We Are The Warriors
by kmgproductionz
Summary: (CPD/Avengers 3/3:) Erin Lindsay and Jay Halstead work along side the Avengers to defeat Ultron [COMPLETE]
1. 1 I Had Strings But Now I'm Free

**1 Year after SHIELD collapsed**

For nearly half of her life, Erin Lindsay had been a SHIELD agent. And now with that gone she was feeling more than a little lost without the title. And yet here she was; chained to a pipe while Jay and Sam fought outside the room to get to her. The men were speaking with thick accents but Erin could make out what they were saying. _Kill the woman before they get in._ They were in Frankfurt, Germany, a lead on Bucky came up and with Steve helping clean up HYDRA's mess with the rest of the Avengers it left the three of them to find the Winter Soldier.

There were four HYDRA agents in the room, firing out of the room to where Sam and Jay were. If Steve were here he'd be extremely angry. His face doing that brooding thing Erin loved so much. But this was all part of the plan. Erin would go in alone, get captured on purpose, and then take out the guards inside the room while Jay and Sam took out the rest of the building. Simple enough.

But then they _chained_ her.

What was she? A wild animal?

 _Kill her now. We need to leave._ One of the men said turning around and pointing his gun at Erin.

 _Please,_ Erin summoned fake tears. _I don't want to die._

Four agents.

She could take them out.

When the man got close enough to her she kicked her legs up, locking them around his neck. The other men began firing on her but she shielded herself with HYDRA agent, all the bullets plummeting in to him instead of her. Erin pulled down hard and the pipe burst setting her free. She held on to the chains that had bound her with and began to swing them, knocking the guns out of the three agent's hands. They charged at her and Erin swung at them with the chains, knocking one guy in the face with them causing him to fall on the ground, knocked out from a head injury.

Only two agents left.

Erin could hear Jay and Sam yelling to one another, trying to find what room she was in. It had distracted her when she heard her name being called out and one of the agents had grabbed her from behind while the other agents started to come at her from the front. Erin pushed herself back in to the agent behind her and kicked her feet up to push the man in front of her.

The agent holding on to her from behind stumbled backwards, falling on the ground, bringing Erin down with him. Erin pushed her weight down and back flipped off of the man, grabbing his gun in his hand and aiming it at the other agent in the room, shooting him in the head. She had pulled the trigger with the HYDRA agent's finger still on it.

Erin moved herself on top of the last remaining HYDRA agent, she looked down at him and saw he was crying. "Where is Sergeant Barnes?" She asked in the native language. He didn't answer, simply shaking his head as tears fell from his eyes. "Sergeant Barnes! Where is he?" She yelled again. The man tried to grab a hold of the gun they were both holding, trying his best to shoot her. But Erin broke his wrist, knocking the gun out of his hand. He cried out in pain.

"We, we," The man stuttered. "We don't know!" He finally got out.

Erin looked down at the man, he was young. Younger than she was. His crying was what got to her. He was hardly fit to be a HYDRA agent. Must have been newly recruited. "How old are you?" She asked in German.

"Tw-twenty."

Erin sighed. "Do you have any valuable information about where the Winter Soldier last was?" She asked. He shook his head. Erin grabbed the gun from the floor and the man cried out.

"-No, no!" He whimpered.

"Relax," Erin said. "I'm not going to kill you." She said. "I highly suggest getting in to a new line of work." She said before aiming the gun at his knee cap. "Precaution." She said before shooting him in the knee. He screamed in pain until he passed out.

The door opened and Erin swung herself around, gun pointed at the door.

Jay and Sam stood in the doorway. Sam looked around the room. "They all dead?" He asked.

Erin shook her head. She pointed to the young man she had just shot in the knee. "He'll live." There was movement behind Sam and Jay, the HYDRA agent who Erin had knocked in the face with her chains stood in the doorway, his hands up in the air in surrender. His face dripped with blood from where Erin had smacked him.

"I give up, I give up." He told them.

"-What'd he say?" Jay asked, his gun aimed at the man's chest.

 _Do you surrender?_ Erin asked.

He made a face. Erin walked forward with her gun raised and the man finally spoke. _I have information!_ He yelled.

She looked to Jay and Sam. Erin looked back to the man. "Regarding?"

"Winter Soldier."

Sam and Jay looked to one another. They recognized that word.

"Enlighten me." Erin told the man.

He lowered his hands from the air. "HYDRA has been trying to track him for a year. We have agents scattered all over the world trying to look for him. We need to bring him back, get him back to the right path. Wipe him and start over."

Erin bit the inside of her cheek, her nostrils flaring.

Jay noted her appearance. "What did he say?" He asked.

Erin looked to her partner. "HYDRA is trying to find Bucky before we do. They want to wipe him and start over." She said in English. She then looked to the HYDRA agent and spoke in German. "-But we're not going to let them do that. Sergeant Barnes is under the protection of SHIELD."

"SHIELD has fallen." The man said with a smirk. She noted the knife in his hand. He had gotten it when she was looking at Jay and Sam.

Erin rolled her eyes. "Well then he's under the protection of me." She said before shooting him in the head.

He fell to the floor with a thud leaving Jay and Sam looking at Erin in surprise.

"Why'd you kill him?" Jay asked. "What'd he say?"

"Nothing good, I guess." Sam mumbled as he looked at the dead man.

Erin pointed to the knife in the man's hand. "You were about two seconds away from getting cut." She told Jay. "You need to pay attention to your surroundings or you're going be killed." She told him.

Jay scoffed. "I'm sorry, who just took out eighteen HYDRA agents?"

"With a machine gun. Not to mention Sam. I, on the other hand, didn't have any weapons on me. And I managed to _still_ get more information than you. Point: Erin Lindsay."

"Um, point _not_ Erin Lindsay. You had an advantage. You speak the language."

Erin let out a bark of a laugh and rolled her eyes.

"Alright, alright." Sam stopped the two of them. "-I'm the deciding vote and I say Erin won." Jay huffed and Erin gave him a cheeky grin causing Sam to laugh.

She felt her phone buzzing in her pant pocket. When she pulled it out and looked at the screen she could see Tony was face-timing her. She answered it; "Lindsay."

" _Really? With the formalities? Why do you have to sound all uptight-y and agent-y. Have you ever answered your phone with just a casual hello? Hi? Sup?"_

"Not since I was eighteen."

" _When was that? Two years ago?"_

Erin rolled her eyes. "Can I help you with something, Stark? Or are you just calling to annoy me in that ever-so-charming way you annoy people?"

" _I'm flattered that you've noticed I'm charming. That's an accomplishment. Pepper – Erin just told me she thinks I'm charming. Should I tell Cap?"_

" _-Tony, leave the poor girl alone and just say what you called about. I have to leave in thirty minutes and you said you'd take me to the airport."_

" _Taking your girlfriend to the airport is so cliché. Especially when you have your own private jet and I refuse to be cliché. You're taking the jet."_

" _-I already bought my ticket, Tony. And they don't do refunds."_

" _-You're dating a billionaire, Pepper! I can buy the whole airport if I want to if that will make you happy."_

Jay spoke up, "Did he call for a reason or just because he was bored?" He asked.

" _Rude, Agent Halstead. Erin, face me so I can look at Halstud."_ Tony demanded. Erin sighed and showed Jay the screen. _"I called to invite you three musketeers to a party at the Tower. To celebrate getting Loki's scepter and Clint's good health."_

Erin faced the phone back to her so Tony could see her face. "What happened to Clint?"

" _Nothing serious,"_ Tony said in a sing song like tune, avoiding telling Erin how badly injured he had been. _"He's all patched up now."_ Before Erin could ask any questions Tony spoke again. _"So are you going to RSVP to my party? Because your ride should be on the roof in about; 3-2-1."_

Erin, Jay, and Sam all looked up when they heard the sound of a jet landing on the roof. SHIELD had fallen, but Tony had kept some of the toys.

" _I was good and packed you all a change of clothes. It's a casual dress code. Nothing black tie."_ Tony rambled on.

"Tony, if you promise to shut up we will come." Jay said.

Tony didn't speak causing Erin to smile as she looked down at the screen, seeing him pretend to zip his lips. "We'll be there in a couple of hours."

" _Good. And whatever you do, don't swear in front of Steve. He disproves of it."_

The screen went blank.

Always with the last word.

"I guess we're headed back to New York." Sam said. "Do you think Steve knows we're coming?"

"Tony didn't say anything about it. It'll be fun to surprise him." Erin said happily.

It had been weeks without seeing Steve. Erin could use a good fix right about now.

They began heading towards the roof.

Jay broke the silence. "Am I the only one concerned that Tony Stark is dressing us?"

Erin and Sam chuckled.

-x-

Jay was happy to help Steve, he'd never complain about working alongside Captain America. But a part of him wanted more. He wanted to be an Avenger. He knew there was nothing special about him other than his talent with a rifle. But maybe that was something? Maybe he was more than ordinary – maybe he was extraordinary? Just like the people he looked up to. So when Erin turned down the offer to go with the Avengers to Russia, he had assumed that Natasha would call him up, or even Clint asking if he'd like to come. But no call came.

So as he sat in a room full of at least twenty World War II vets, he watched as the Avengers joke around with each other, teasing Steve about something he had said on the mission, he felt a twinge of jealousy. He wanted more. He wanted to be more.

"-Hey there, handsome." A sultry voice said from behind him.

He rolled his eyes, knowing it was Natasha. She was always teasing him. Jay turned around to see Natasha eyeing him up and down.

"Stark does know how to pick out a good suit." Natasha smirked. "You look very nice, Halstead."

He wanted to ask her then and there why she hadn't called him to ask him for help. But instead he smiled, something he found himself doing more and more when he looked at Natasha. He motioned to her dress. "And you look stunning as always."

"Did you just get here?" Natasha asked.

Jay nodded his head.

"Well then let me get you a drink." She smiled before grapping his hand and leading him to the bar. "Now I know when I ask you what you'd like to drink you'll say; _beer_. But you're going to have to have a little trust in me and let me fix you something that will make you forget about all your troubles." Natasha winked from behind the bar.

Jay chuckled. "I don't think that's possible."

Natasha quirked her brow. "You have many troubles these days, Halstead?" She questioned. To anyone else listening, they might think the red haired vixen was mocking Jay. But he knew her well enough to hear the concern in her.

He shook his head, trying to force a real looking smile to assure Natasha he was fine. But she saw through him.

"What's going on?"

He sighed before he finally got what he was thinking off his chest. "I suppose I figured I'd get a call." Jay admitted. "To help you and the Avengers in Russia." Natasha, usually able to hide her facial expressions, looked to Jay in surprise. "-I mean, we all worked together well in New York."

Natasha nodded. "We did." She then looked back up at Jay before handing him a red drink in one of Tony's fancy martini glasses. "But your skills weren't needed in Russia."

"I have more skills than just being a good sniper."

"I know, I've slept with you." Natasha smirked, trying to joke.

But Jay gave her a serious look.

Natasha exhaled through her nostrils. "You're a great sniper, Jay. You're decent at combat." She told him. "And that's what we needed out there."

"So you called Erin."

"Yes."

Jay shook his head and set down his drink on the bar, looking Natasha in the eyes. "I guess I just didn't make the cut, hu?" He said before walking away.

Natasha sighed, "Jay," She called after him. But he was already walking out of her view, lost in the sea of veterans Steve had invited over for the party.

_x_

When Steve Rogers woke up in the future he knew his life would never be the same again. The life that he knew was over. And it had devastated him. But then he met Erin Lindsay, and she made him feel safe. Safe in a new world that he wasn't used to, she made him feel welcome. With Erin he didn't feel so lost. And over time he fell in love with her. Which he hadn't expected.

But now he stood next to her, his arm wrapped around her waist, holding her close to him as they spoke to veterans Steve had fought with. He looked down at her and she was smiling, nodding her head at what the men were saying, telling her stories of Captain America in the 40's. She'd laugh, throw her head back cracking up when they told her about the performances he'd do as Captain America at USO tours.

He loved her. So much it kind of scared him. The only other woman he ever loved before was Peggy Carter. And he never thought he'd love another person again. Not after Peggy. How could he? But he had. Peggy had been the first woman he ever loved and Erin understood that. She never gave him a hard time when he'd go visit his first love in the nursing home she was placed in. She often asked about her, wanting to know what she was like in the 40's. When she first joined SHIELD she had learned all about Peggy. And she admired her. And that hadn't changed.

Steve could remember the day he fell in love with Erin. They had been searching for Bucky for 3 months with no more leads left. _He's a ghost._ Steve felt hopeless, but Erin talked to him, not giving up on the search, not giving up on Bucky. And he looked at her for a long moment and thought. _My God, I love this woman._ She was so dedicated to finding Bucky for Steve, to get his best friend back and Steve loved her for it.

Erin had surprised him by showing up, _well;_ Tony had surprised him by inviting her. Erin and Tony had grown closer over the years after New York. Stark had saved her life, she was grateful to him. So when Steve walked in to a room and saw Erin standing on the other side of it, he all but ran to swoop her up in his arms. Too many people were in the room for him to do what he really wanted to do to her. So he grinned, walked over to her and took her in his arms, kissing her sweetly on the mouth, whispering in her ear; _you have no idea how much I've missed you._ To which Erin replied; _you can show me how much later tonight._ She had a sly look in her eyes, a smirk on her lips. Steve chuckled and hugged on to her.

Yes, Steve Rogers was crazy, stupid, in love with former SHIELD agent Erin Lindsay. And he was the happiest he had been for quite some time since waking up in the future. The only thing that would make him even happier was if they could find Bucky. Erin had so much faith that they would find him that Steve felt more optimistic each time they searched for him. And when they didn't find him and Steve began to feel hopeless again, Erin would take his hand and give him a look. A look that said; _'Don't give up. We'll find him'_ she never gave up hope for Bucky and she didn't even know him.

She was a good, kind, caring woman, always putting others before herself.

"-Little bird," Steve heard a familiar voice say. It was Clint, he was the only one who called Erin that. And when he looked down at Erin she was turning her head in the direction the voice came from. Erin looked up to Steve who simply smiled and nodded his head, telling her to go see her friend. Erin stood on her tip toes and kissed Steve's cheek, promising to return to him.

_x_

"It was a lot worse than it looks now." Clint said as Erin examined where his wound had been. She could still see a scar, feel it under her fingertips as she ran her hand down his wound. She didn't want to imagine how it had been before Dr. Cho fixed Clint up. She looked up, giving him a look. Clint chuckled. "I'm fine, Erin. All healed."

"You could have died out there, you idiot."

Clint nodded his head. "And you could have died in Germany." He spoke up. "Sam says they used you as bait to find out information about Barnes. I thought we talked about you only doing that when you're partnered up with me or Romanoff."

Erin rolled her eyes. "I can handle myself, Clint." She poked his side causing him to wince. "Unlike you, I see." When she went to poke at him again Clint had grabbed a hold of her hand, holding on to it as he looked at her with a serious expression.

"You need to be careful out there, Erin." He said, his voice almost shaking. "We're not invincible. We're not bullet proof. We're human."

Erin nodded her head. "I know." Clint needed to hear her say it, and she knew it. "I'll be careful, Clint." She promised him. "So long as you're careful too." She smiled.

Clint looked down at her and smiled. "Deal."

After a beat, Erin looked away from Clint with a wicked grin. "I hear Thor brought in some asgardian booze to try and get Steve drunk. Let's go enjoy the show."

Clint laughed, nodding his head. That was something he wanted to see. Steve and Thor were always able to out drink all of them. Barton very much wanted to see Steve lit off his ass.

_x_

"It's a trick!" Clint said, playing with drumsticks he found.

"Oh no, it's much more than that." Thor said after clinking shot glasses with Steve.

"Oh; _Whosoever be he worthy shall have'th the power!"_ Clint spoke in a deep dramatic voice, imitating Thor causing the group to laugh. Erin sat next to the archer on the ground, between him and Maria chuckling. "-Whatever man, it's a trick!" Clint said in his own voice.

"Well, please, be my guest." Thor motioned to Mjolnir, taunting Clint to try and pick it up.

Erin looked to Clint, an amused look on her face. "Do it." She said.

"Really?" Clint said as he stood up.

"Yeah," Thor replied.

"This is going to be beautiful." Erin whispered to Maria who chuckled, them both waiting for Clint to try and lift the hammer.

"Clint, you've had a tough week. We won't hold it against you if you can't get it up." Tony remarked causing Erin to laugh. She looked around the room for Jay, knowing how much he was going to love this. But she couldn't find him. In fact, she hadn't seen him all night.

" _You know I've seen this before, right?"_ Erin heard Clint saying, bringing her attention back to him. Thor was giving him an amused look, motioning for him to pick up the hammer.

Clint pulled the hammer with one hand, not able to lift it up, grunting as he tried. He then laughed, shaking his head. "I still don't know how you do it." He laughed.

Erin went back to looking around the room, trying to find Jay again. Clint began to speak again, saying something to Tony who then sat up off his seat and walked over to the hammer.

"I'm never one to shrink from an honest challenge." Tony said as he stood by the hammer. "It's physics." Tony said as he wrapped the band around his wrist that was tied to the hammer. "Alright, so if I lift it, I then rule Asgard?" Tony asked.

"Yes, of course." Thor agreed.

"I will be reinstituting Prima Nocta." Tony said before trying to lift the hammer. With no such luck, he told the group he'd be back and returned with his iron man hand. Even with jet boosts on the piece of machine Tony still couldn't lift it.

He then had Rhodey come up and help him, using Iron Patriots arm.

"Are you even pulling?" Rhodey asked.

"Are you on my team?" Tony asked.

"Just represent. Pull!" Rhodey told Tony.

Neither could lift the hammer.

It then became a game. Could even of them lift the hammer? They were all drunk enough to try.

Bruce was next, standing on the table to use all his strength to lift the hammer. He screamed, roaring trying to joke that he was turning in to the Hulk. Everyone looked at him, holding back their amusement. Everyone but Natasha who simply smiled and shook her head.

"I bet Steve is worthy." Erin piped up, still sitting between Clint and Maria.

"-You're only saying that because you're sleeping with him." Tony remarked causing the group to laugh. "If I'm not worthy, Steve's not worthy."

Erin laughed, rolling her eyes. "Go on, Steve. Show 'em what you got." Erin said causing Steve to smile and stand up.

When he tried to lift it, they all heard a squeak, watch as it moved slightly. With wide eyes, all of them looked on. Even Thor looked worried. But when Steve pulled again he couldn't lift it. Thors smile returned and he began to laugh. "Nothing." He said as he drank his beer. Glad that he still had his title.

Banner motioned for Natasha to have a turn. "Oh, no, no, no. That's not a question I need answered." She said causing the room to laugh.

Erin stood up, walking over to where Steve stood, hearing Tony remark on how the hammer was rigged.

"-You bet your ass." Clint agreed.

"-Steve, he said a bad language word." Maria pointed at Clint causing everyone to laugh. Erin sat down, resting her head on Steve's shoulder.

"Did you tell everyone about that?" Steve asked Tony. He then looked over at Erin. "Why didn't you try and lift it?" He asked.

Erin laughed. "Former junkie street kid worthy of the power of Gods?" Erin shook her head. "I knew the answer I'd get."

Steve frowned. No matter how far Erin had come, she still viewed herself as the girl she was when she was sixteen. The east side street kid hooked on dope. Doing anything and everything to get her next fix

And that was how she met Voight. He had cleaned her up, turned her to SHIELD. But now with Erin finding out Voight was HYDRA. Well, she was more than a little lost. They all booed when Thor told them they all weren't worthy of the hammer.

Suddenly there was a loud piercing noise in the room. They all looked around, seeing one of Starks robots walking in to the room, half mangled. Steve stood up, stepping in front of Erin who when he wasn't looking, moved over to where her gun was in her purse next to where Clint was standing at the bar.

"How...how could you be worthy?" The robot asked. "You're all killers." He said.

Erin slowly pulled out her gun from her purse, keeping it by her side.

"Stark?" Steve needed answers.

"JARVIS," Tony said. No answer.

"I'm sorry I was asleep." The robot told them all. "I was a dream."

"Reboot." Tony said quietly, trying to figure out what was happening.

"There was this terrible noise." The mangled piece of metal told them all. "And I was tangled and…strings."

He wasn't making sense.

"Had to kill the other guy." He told them. "He was a good guy."

"-You killed someone?" Steve asked.

"Wouldn't have been my first call." He stumbled a little. "But down in the real world we're faced with ugly choices."

Erin began to panic. The _thing_ had killed someone. And she couldn't find Jay in the room. When she moved forward Clint grabbed a hold of her wrist, pulling her back. They didn't know what they were dealing with.

"Who sent you?" Thor asked.

 _I see a suit of armor around the world,_ they all heard the robot play Tony's voice. A recording.

"Ultron," Bruce said in surprise, looking to Tony.

"In the flesh." Ultron spoke again. "Or, _no_ , not yet. Not this…Christmas." He said. "But I'm ready." Clint moved forward slightly, in front of Erin. "I'm on a mission." Erin looked to see Steve looking around, searching for her in the room. They made eye contact and Erin simply nodded her head, letting him know she'd be careful.

"What mission?" Natasha asked.

"Peace in our time." Ultron said before more of Tony's suits came flying through the walls. Steve kicked up the table, stopping them from coming at the group. Thor swung his hammer at some of them, knocking them back. Erin slid across the floor, her dress ripping on the bottom as she ducked under cover.

She could see Natasha and Bruce jumping over the bar for cover. Erin began firing at one of the bots when Steve jumped up on it. "Steve!" She shouted.

The machine pushed Steve against the wall, knocking him on the ground. Erin began firing at it again. Just as Erin was about to be shot at, someone tackled her to the ground and they went sliding down the stairs. She looked at the person who had tackled her and saw Jay hovering over her. She sighed in relief. "Where the hell were you?" She spat out.

Jay shook his head and simply grabbed her hand, moving them so they were out of the pathway of fire.

Jay took her over to where Clint was, grabbing Steve's shield and throwing it to him. Steve's shield decapitated the robot and all the other robots fell to the ground.

"That was dramatic." Ultron spoke up. "I'm sorry, I know you mean well." He told them all. Erin moved closer to Clint, her friend moved his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. Her face was bleeding, as well as her thigh from all the glass she had been cut with when she and Jay slid down the stairs. "You just didn't think it through."

Steve moved closer to Ultron, causing Erin to move forward only to be pulled back by both Clint and Jay.

"You want to protect the world but you don't want it to change. How is humanity saved it it's not allowed to evolve?" Ultron asked. He bent down to grab one of the smashed robots. "These, these _puppets,"_ he threw it on the ground. "There's only one path to peace…the Avengers extinction."

Thor threw his hammer, and Ultron broke in to pieces.

They all looked at the Ultron.

 _I had strings but now I'm free…there are no strings on me._


	2. He's My Friend

"Where were you?" Erin asked as Jay cleaned up her face, wiping away the blood. Jay sighed. He had left in a fit after talking to Natasha. But when he realized he was in the wrong, he had come back to apologize to her. When he showed up he could hear all the gun fire and fighting. He should have been there. He should have been fighting with the Avengers. He should have been watching Erin's back. That was his job.

"I'm sorry," he said with a deep breath. "I needed some time to think and," He stopped talking when he saw Thor grab Tony by the neck, lifting him off the ground. Erin's head turned in the direction and Jay watched as she moved forward.

"Use your words, buddy." Erin heard Tony say.

Natasha moved forward and touched Erin's arm, a silent conversation between the two, Natasha not wanting Erin to get in the middle.

"I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark."

Steve calmed Thor down as much as possible, the Norse God finally dropped Stark.

"Trail went cold about a hundred miles out, he was heading north. And he has the scepter." Thor shook his head. "Now we have to retrieve it. Again."

"Genies out of that bottle. Clear and present is Ultron." Natasha spoke up.

"I don't understand," Dr. Cho said as she looked at the broken drones. "You built this program." She looked to Tony. "Why is it trying to kill us?"

Tony began to chuckle.

"Seriously, Stark?" Erin said in anger. Bruce began shaking his head at Tony, telling him to stop laughing.

Thor was not amused. "You think this is funny?" He asked.

"No," Tony turned around the face the group. "It's probably not, right?" He shook his head. "this is very terrible." He started laughing again. "It is, it's so terrible."

"This could have been avoided if you hadn't played with something you don't understand." Thor argued with Tony.

"No," Tony disagreed. "I'm sorry – I'm sorry. It _is_ funny. It's a hoot but you don't get why we need this."

"Maybe this might not be the time," Banner tried to stop Tony from pissing Thor off anymore.

"Really? Really? That's it? You just roll over, show your belly every time somebody snarls?"

"Only when I've created a murderbot."

"We didn't." Tony disagreed. "We weren't even close. Were we close to an interface?" Erin watched as Bruce made a face, nodding his head with a shrug.

"-You did something right." Steve spoke. "And you did it right here." He walked forward. "The Avengers was supposed to be different from SHIELD."

"Anybody remember when I carried a nuke through a worm hole?" Tony asked. They all groaned. They've heard about it plenty of times. "Save New York? Recall that?" Tony shouted. "A hostile alien army came charging through a hole in space We're standing three hundred feet below it." He motioned to the room.

Erin looked to Clint who was looking at his hands. The subject of New York was always a touchy one for him. She looked back at Tony.

"-We're the Avengers. We can bust arms dealers all live long day but that up there," he pointed up. "That's the end game." He shook his head. "How were you guys planning on beating that?"

"Together." Steve told Tony.

"We'll lose." Tony replied.

"Then we'll do that together too." Steve said. He looked behind him to see Erin watching him. He gave her a nod of his head. "Thors right. Ultron is calling us out. And I'd like to find him before he's ready for us."

"The worlds a big place. Let's start making it small."

_x_

Erin had agreed to go along with the Avengers to find Ultron. They could use both her and Jays skills. But that didn't mean Steve wasn't worried about his girlfriend coming along. He watched as she walked in to the room, fully dressed for battle. Steve walked up to her, his hand moving to her face to caress her cheek. "You know you don't have to do this, right?" He asked her.

Erin smiled, nodding her head. "Who doesn't want a chance to fight an evil A.I?" She teased. "Besides, it'll be a nice break from taking out HYDRA agents." She snarled the word.

Steve knew how much Erin hated HYDRA for what they had done to Bucky – but deep down inside her, and Steve knew this, whenever she thought to HYDRA she'd think of Voight. His betrayal had broken her heart. Tracking down HYDRA agents was her way of coping. The more she killed, the less community it had. _Cut off one head, two more shall take its place._

Erin never talked about Voight. Whenever anyone tried to bring him up she'd change the subject. No one could get through to her on that subject. Not even Steve. He felt helpless. He just wanted to help her through her pain. But she hid it so well, plastered a smile on her face when Steve would bring up Voight and say, _"Honestly, I'm fine. He's put away for life – there's nothing to discuss."_

But Steve knew better than to believe that.

"I'll be fine, Steve." Erin said, seeing Steve lost in his thoughts. "I promise."

Steve smiled down at her. "You sure as hell better be." He said before kissing her.

Tony walked past him saying, " _Language._ " Which caused Steve to pull away with a groan. He'd never live that down.

_x_

Jay gathered his things, gearing up for the mission when Natasha snuck up behind him. He hadn't heard her footsteps behind him. "You ready for this?" She asked causing Jay to dart his head in her direction. He sighed, seeing it was her. "You said you wanted to work with the Avengers, you've got your chance now."

Jay didn't say anything he simply looked back at his gear.

Natasha sighed. "Look, Halstead," someone cleared their throat causing both Natasha and Jay to turn to look at them.

Clint stood on the other side of the room. "You mind if I talk to Jay for a sec?" He asked Natasha who nodded her head, leaving the room. Jays former S.O walked up to where Jay stood. "Natasha told me what you said to her. You asked her why you didn't get a call to help us in Russia."

Jay nodded his head.

"It was my decision to have you stay back with Wilson and Lindsay."

"Why?" Jay asked.

"Because despite what Erin's been saying for the past year; she's not okay. She's erratic. Voight turning out to be HYDRA really messed her up. And if Steve wasn't there to watch her back – I needed you to be there. I knew you wouldn't let anything happen to Erin. You watch her back, you have since New York." Clint reminded Jay. "So when Erin turned down going to Russia, I knew that meant we'd have to leave you behind as well. Someone needed to be there to stop her from doing something crazy that she couldn't handle."

Jay didn't mention Erin using herself as bait while he and Sam took out a building of HYDRA agents. How Erin had single handedly taken out four agents by herself with no weapon. _Yeah,_ that was pretty erratic. And Sam had voted against it. But Jay knew that Erin could handle it – and that he'd find her in time. Knowing Clint, he probably already knew about it. But nothing would happen to her while Jay was there.

"It wasn't because you weren't needed." Clint clarified. "It was because you were needed elsewhere. You and Erin are just as much of an Avenger as I am."

Jay was no longer angry. How could he be? Watching Erin's back was so natural to him. And with how she had been the past year he shouldn't have been surprised that Clint would want him near Erin to watch her back. It was his job, they were partners. So what he missed a chance to fight with the Avengers. He'd rather have his best friend alive and well because of him than playing super heroes with the group.

"Thanks, man." Jay said, nodding his head.

_x_

Erin stood at Steve's left, looking down at the tablet in his hand. She shook her head, anger filling her. Tony walked in the room, seeing everyone looking at something that Thor now currently held. "What's this?" He asked.

Thor shoved the tablet at Tony. "A message." Steve answered as Tony looked at the picture. "Ultron killed Strucker."

" _And_ he did a Banksy at the crime scene." Tony said as he examined the picture. "Just for us."

"-This is a smoke screen," Natasha spoke up. "Why send a message when you've just given a speech?"

"Strucker must have known something that Ultron wanted you guys to miss." Erin said. She looked to Steve. "Any ideas?"

He shook his head.

"-Everything we had on Strucker has been erased." Natasha said as she typed away at the hologram keyboard.

"Not everything." Steve told the group.

They all went through multiple file cases that Steve had delivered. There had to be at least a hundred. And as much as both Erin and Jay despised doing paper work, they needed to.

"Known associates." Erin heard Steve grumble as he went through box after box. "Strucker had a lot of friends."

"Well, these people are all horrible." Bruce commented. Jay held back his chuckle.

"Wait," Tony said when he saw the file Bruce was holding. "I know that guy."

Jay looked to Erin, giving her a look that she knew meant he wanted to talk in private. Erin followed him out of the room.

"What's up?" She asked, seeing the concern on his face.

"I heard Steve and Maria talking. Ultron is working with the Maximoff twins." They had both heard about them. _He's fast and she's weird,_ Maria had described them. "Wanda Maximoff can get in to peoples head, you know that right?"

"I read the file." Erin nodded her head.

"She can stir up memories – make your worst dreams come alive in your head."

"Jay, if you're worried about me having a mental breakdown because she does some voodoo on my head," She blew off his worry with a chuckle.

"-I think you should avoid her all together. You don't want her in your head."

Erin's smile faded. "Why is that, Jay?" She asked with a raised brow. "You don't know what's inside my head."

"-Yeah, 'cos you don't let anyone near it." He told her. "You don't let anyone in. Not since Voight."

She glared.

"So maybe you should finally talk about how you're feeling so Maximoff doesn't get inside your head and use your nightmares against you."

Erin, still glaring, shook her head. "How about you mind your own damn business and just do your job?" Erin said before walking away.

_x_

They were on the African Coast, ready for battle. Erin still hadn't spoken to Jay since their talk. Choosing to sit in-between Tony and Steve rather than at her spot by Jay and Clint. Usually she put distance between her and Steve before a mission, not wanting him to be the focus of her thoughts instead of the mission at hand. But she was mad at Jay, even though he had a point. She was just too stubborn to admit that to his face.

When they were over the ship, Jay, Erin, Natasha, and Jay parachuted out of the plane. The only ones not capable of jumping out of an airplane and landing gracefully on their feet. _Well,_ Thor didn't land as gracefully.

"Jay, 'Tasha," Clint whispered as they snuck on board. "-You come in from the left. Erin and I will come in from the back."

There had been silence, then they heard Ultron speaking. Erin looked to Clint who motioned for her to cover him from behind. He crept forward until gun shots went off and both of the former SHIELD agents turned on action mode. Clint of course went up to the highest point of the building, firing his arrows at the men on board while Erin fought them using gun, knife, and combat. When a man grabbed her arm she swung around and punched him in the face, knocking him out, another man tried to shoot at her before Erin kicked the machine gun out of his hands as more men came at her.

An arrow flew past her, hitting a tall large man in the chest. He staggered back. Erin jumped up, grabbing on to one of the pipes and pushed her legs up, kicking the man off the ledge of the metal bridge they stood on.

Erin ran up off the bridge before it collapsed, jumping up and climbing until she was to where Clint stood. A drone fired at them causing the bridge they were on to collapse. Clint grabbed a hold of Erin's arm before they both plummeted to the ground and shot one of his arrows up to latch on to the wall, keeping them in the air.

Erin sighed in relief as they were lowered down. She looked to Clint before turning around and walking around the corner. "I need to find Steve." She told him.

But Erin didn't hear Clint's reply. Wanda Maximoff stood before her, red mist leaving her fingers, dancing all around Erin. Her eyes closed and she fell to the floor.

 _She was back in Chicago in her old home. Voight was there, but Erin had no recollection of this memory. "Don't hurt him, please!" She cried. Erin watched from a distance and looked at herself. She was fifteen, she could tell from the bad dye job. She hadn't met Voight until she was sixteen. This didn't make sense. She looked at Voight who was holding up a gun. It was aimed at her. She heard Russian being spoken behind her._

" _James!" She heard herself yell. "Run!"_

 _She was outside now, she could see herself hovered over a body, blood on her hands. "You didn't have to shoot him!" She heard herself yell. "James, are you okay? Can you hear me?"_

 _When Erin stepped forward to see who the man was she was thrown back in to a different memory. She was in Voights house and suddenly she could see who this James was. But it wasn't possible for Erin to be seeing this._

" _Bucky?"_

" _James, I'll work with your boss." She heard herself tell Bucky, whom she kept calling James._

 _Flashes of images, words hung in the air._

" _He's my friend."_

" _You're the only person who can make me feel." She heard Bucky saying._

" _Don't hurt him." She had been crying while she yelled._

 _Bucky was on the floor unconscious now. "James, please wake up."_

" _I'm scared." She whispered. Bucky grabbed her hand._

" _I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."_

" _No! Don't take him! I'll work for you! I'll work for you!"_

 _Erin could see a man standing over her teenage self's body, hooking her up to a machine. "We'll use you, Ms. Lindsay." He said. It was Pierce. "In due time, we will use you."_

 _More flashes and then Erin watched as they pulled Bucky away from her younger self. "James!"_

 _Everything went black. She was standing in the room Voight was being kept in. "You came." He smiled at her. "I knew you would. It's your mission." He stood up and Erin walked up to him, hugging him tightly. "Hail Hydra," he whispered in her ear._

" _Hail Hydra." She replied._

 _Another memory_

 _She was a teenager again, needles in her arm, lying on the ground. Voight was hovering over her. "Be strong, kid."_

"Erin, Erin can you hear me?" She could hear Clint's voice. "We're almost there, hold on, okay?"

"James," Erin mumbled. "Don't hurt him, please, he's my friend."

_x_

AN: So Erin knew Bucky before she even joined SHIELD. Oh boy! Is Erin a super secret HYDRA agent? Who knows?


	3. You Don't Know the Half of It

Erin watched the sky as they moved, Steve held her in his arms, walking her to the house. "He's my friend." She kept muttering over and over.

"It's okay, Erin." Steve whispered to her, climbing up the stairs. "You're safe."

What was real and what wasn't? She didn't know. Her dream, no, her nightmare, those memories. _No,_ they couldn't be true. They were false memories. Her biggest fear was that she had been HYDRA all along; that when Voight recruited her to SHIELD he had ulterior motives. That he had done something to her.

Steve was carrying her inside the house, there was a woman there. She was pregnant. Erin didn't recognize her. She mumbled nonsense when she saw Clint kissing the woman, introducing her as his wife. Was she still dreaming? Clint wasn't married – she must still be dreaming.

"-Take her up to our room," she heard the woman say to Clint. Suddenly children ran in to the room, calling Clint 'Dad'. _No, no, this is a dream._

"Steve," she mumbled, her hand grasping at his shirt.

"It's okay, Erin." He told her, and then asked where the bedroom was. Steve tucked Erin in to bed, pushing her hair away from her face.

When Erin closed her eyes, memories flooded back inside her.

_x_

Erin woke up with Jay sitting at the edge of the bed, watching her sleep. How long had she been out? "Were you watching me sleep?" She asked him.

"Just making sure you're not dead." He smiled causing her to smile as well.

After a beat, Erin spoke up.

"I should have listened to you." Erin admitted. Jay didn't say much, simply gave her a soft smile. Wanda hadn't gotten to him. He was sure he was next on her list before Clint got to her and that speedy brother of hers took her away. Jay had found Clint cradling Erin in his arms, whispering to her that she'd be alright. "I shouldn't have gotten mad at you, I should have listened."

He smiled. "Is this your way of saying that I'm right and you were wrong."

Erin rolled her eyes. "Yes." She gave him that.

"I'm just glad Clint got to her before she got inside my head." He confessed. Jay had tried to prepare himself for if Wanda got inside his head, a million memories flashing through his mind of all the horrible things that had happened to him in his life. The mistakes, the deaths, the darkest part of him. Wanda Maximoff could have ultimately destroyed him. "…What'd you see?" He finally asked. Erin had muttered on and on about a _James,_ who was this James? Her first love? A family friend? She kept saying; _Please don't hurt him, please! He's my friend!_ He was obviously important to her. But he never heard her mention him before.

And yeah, Erin kept a lot of her past to herself and sometimes that frustrated the hell out of Jay. But this was different.

Erin took in a deep breath. "My worst nightmare." She finally answered. "That I've been HYDRA all along. Just some pawn in their game."

Jay leaned forward. "But that wasn't a memory, right?" He asked.

She looked down at her hands. "The memories were a blur and confusing. I was seeing things I can't remember even happening. They weren't...possible."

"James?"

Erin swallowed hard.

"Old boyfriend?" Jay smiled, trying to make her less tense.

She shook her head. "It was…" she shook her head, the words in her head sounding ridiculous. _It was Bucky. I was friends with Bucky when I was a teenager and in order to keep him alive I agreed to work for Voight and his bosses._ No, that was all ridiculous. Erin didn't even know if it was true. "James was a friend of mine." She finally spoke.

"This is the first I'm hearing of him." Jay noted.

She didn't know what to say. "I need to talk to Steve."

"Erin," Jay said softly. "What's going on?"

Her memories came rushing back to her once more. Of her making a deal with Voight to keep James – Bucky- alive. Of them wiping her brain, of herself on the ground with needles in her arm. Her first ever overdose. Had they shot her up with dope so Erin wouldn't remember what had happened to her after the brainwash? As angry as she was when she found out Voight was HYDRA – she knew he wouldn't have done that to her. But what if he had?

And James; she remembered everything about him. He was the first person she ever really trusted – he had been her friend. She had loved him, he was her protector, She remembered meeting him, of the first time she saw his metal arm, the feel of it under her fingers. Erin remembered everything about someone who had been wiped from her memory, now thanks to Wanda, all the memories were filling her head.

Had she been wiped from Bucky's mind as well? Or did he remember her?

During the fall of SHIELD he had protected her, never once went after her. Did he remember? Did he remember that she was his friend? Probably his first friend since Steve.

Erin remembered the last time she saw him. They put him in a metal machine, locking him in there and freezing him until they needed him again. He had been out of cryo freeze, she remembered, to come after her to try and get her to work with Voight, be his eyes. He was supposed to scare her, threaten, use torture if necessary to get her to be the eyes on the inside.

" _I saw you sitting on your porch, you were smoking a cigarette."_ She could hear James voice in her head. _"You worked with Voight before, you were a good CI. Pierce wanted you on the team. And eye on the inside…but, the look on your face, the way your fingers shook as you smoked. I can't remember who I am…really, deep down inside. And the look on your face. It was like looking in a mirror. You were lost. And I felt the instant urge to protect you. To go against orders and keep you safe. That's not what I was made to do. When Voight found out they sent an assassin after you he went crazy. He had a soft spot for you. That's why he came after me, it wasn't your fault, Erin, I promise."_

Erin rubbed her eyes, an overwhelming feeling of sadness filling her. And for the first time since she got her memory wiped; she missed her friend. And that hurt like hell.

"Who was James, Erin?" Jay asked again.

She took in a deep breath. "James Buchanan Barnes." Erin finally said it out loud.

Jay couldn't believe what he was hearing. Erin knew Bucky before? "How?" He asked.

"HYDRA sent him after me and he didn't follow orders."

"Were you guys…together?"

Erin shook her head. "He was my friend."

Jay didn't want to ask it, he knew it wasn't possible. Erin had said her nightmare had been that she was HYDRA – but was she really?

"-Jay," Clint's voice said from the doorway.

Clint had explained everything to Jay, though he was angry, all he wanted was for Clint to be happy. Now it was Erin's turn to hear the story.

Jay nodded, getting up from where he saw on the edge of the bed Erin was in. He looked back at Erin. "I'm going to go get Steve so you two can talk."

She watched as Jay left the room and Clint entered it. This was his room, she had been in here before. But now she felt like a stranger. Clint sad down on the edge of the bed.

Erin looked at him for a long while, studying his face. Her mind still felt weird, like it wasn't her own. The worried look on Clint's face only made her feel more concerned. Whatever Wanda Maximoff had done to her, it stirred something inside her up. Memories she hadn't recalled having flashing in her head. _James,_ no – Bucky. She could vaguely hear herself muttering his name as Steve carried her in to Clint's house. _He's my friend – please don't hurt him,_ she recalled saying. Bringing back memories that had been wiped from her, Maximoff was messing with her head. And she had done a fine job.

But the one thing in her head that she just _did not_ understand was that Clint was _married?_ No, she was still in a dream state. If Clint was married, wouldn't she have gone to his wedding? The woman was pretty, kind eyes, sweet voice. She was pregnant – Clint was going to be a dad. No, she had seen two other children run up to Clint calling him Dad. Had Clint had a wife and family this whole time? No. She would have known. Erin looked down at his hands, a gold wedding band on his left ring finger. She'd never seen it until now.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" She asked.

Clint licked his lips, running his hands down his face. "Eventually."

"You have kids, Clint."

He sighed. "I adopted them. Their dad was a jackass, never around, and we both know what that's like." Clint reminded her.

"How long have you been married? Years? When we…were you?"

"No, I wasn't married then." He assured her. "Laura and I got married about eight months ago."

Erin sat herself up from the bed. Clint leaned forward to help her but Erin held up her hand, telling him she could do it on her own. "My invitation must have got lost in the mail." Erin tried to joke.

"I…I didn't know if," He groaned. Clint dreaded this conversation. "With our past, I thought it might be-"

"Clint, we slept together once. It wasn't a big deal."

Clint sucked in his bottom lip, nodding. He shrugged. "It was a big deal for me." He confessed.

Erin gaped at him. He let out a nervous chuckle.

"I didn't realize it, yaknow, until it was too late." Clint admitted. "Not until you came here," he motioned around his house. "After SHIELD fell. You left to be with Steve and that's when I realized it." He shrugged his shoulders.

"Clint,"

"I met Laura about a month after you left. It wasn't going to be anything more than a one-night stand. But then I got to know her and her kids…I fell in love with all of them."

Erin didn't know what to say. How was she supposed to respond to that? She had no idea that Clint had had feelings for her. "Are you happy?" She decided to ask.

He smiled. "Yeah."

Erin nodded her head. "Okay."

They sat there in silence for a while before they heard Laura calling for Clint. He left Erin in his room alone.

_x_

Steve couldn't think of anything but Peggy. The vision he had of her and him dancing. It had been all he wanted for the longest time. But then the room was empty and he was all alone. Being alone was his biggest fear and Maximoff had played on that. He didn't know how to talk to Erin and when Jay told him she was awake he felt anxious.

He should have been by her bed side, not arguing with Tony as he chopped wood. Erin needed him and he was avoiding her.

He took a deep breath as he stood in front of the door, bracing himself. Erin had been so disoriented when they got to the fire, a constant look of confusion on her face. He didn't know what Wanda had made her see; only that she was scared.

He opened the door to see Erin changing out of her shirt, dressing in one of Clint's shirts. "Hey," He spoke up causing her to turn and face him. "How are you feeling?" He asked.

She shrugged. "Dizzy." She told him. Her mind was her own now, she knew what was real and what wasn't. Even though some of the things that were real she wished was a dream. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

"What I assume a hangover feels like."

Erin smiled. She was silent for a moment before stepping forward. "Steve, there's something you need to know."

He moved forward, taking her hand in his upon hearing the shaking in her voice. "What'd you see?"

"I worked for Voight and HYDRA when I was fifteen. I was their eyes in Chicago. They took away my memories of that year before I joined SHIELD."

Steve looked at her for a long moment, not letting go of her hand. "What were their plans for you?" He asked. Steve supposed her should have asked; what _are_ their plans for you. But he couldn't find the courage to ask that question.

"Most likely just information. I don't know if they were using me when I was with SHIELD, but," she stopped herself. "If they were using me,"

Steve shook his head, squeezing her hand. "You don't have to think about that, Erin. It's not like you willingly worked for them – they brainwashed you."

Erin watched his face, taking in a deep breath. She needed to look at his face when she told him what she was about to say. "I volunteered to work for HYDRA." Erin finally confessed.

Steve took a step back, letting go of her hand.

"Steve, it's not like that – I,"

He shook his head. "You volunteered?"

"I had to." Erin tried to say. Steve began to walk away. "Steve!" She called out, following after him. He kept walking. "They were going to hurt Bucky if I didn't!" She shouted.

That caused him to stop. He stood with his back facing her for a good fifteen seconds before he finally turned to face her. Steve's face was a painting of confusion. Erin breathed in a shaky breath.

" _James,_ " Steve finally said.

Erin nodded. "That's how I knew him. _James_." She explained. "He was my friend. And they were going to hurt him if I didn't comply."

"You knew him?"

She nodded her head.

"And they wiped him from your memory?"

"Yes." Erin told him. "They put him in cryo freeze right in front of me before they wiped him from me. They said I needed a clear mind."

Steve didn't speak.

Erin closed her eyes, fighting tears. "Please say something." She whispered.

Steve didn't know what to say. He needed time to think. "I should go help with the wood." He said, leaving Erin alone in Clint's room. Tears fell from her eyes when he was gone.

_x_

After the tears, Erin wiped her eyes, splashed water on her face and went downstairs. Natasha was sitting at the kitchen table, a little girl in her arms. She wasn't surprised that Natasha knew Clint now had a family – they were close. Erin always thought they'd end up together. Erin didn't think for a minute that Clint would feel anything for her other than friendship, he had caught her off guard. But she wasn't going to avoid him or his wife. She wanted to meet her. _Laura,_ that was her name.

"Hey," Natasha said, spying Erin out of the corner of her eyes. There was no sneaking up on Natasha Romanoff.

"Hey," Erin said, walking up to where Natasha and Laura were sitting. Erin took a seat, looking at Laura. "I'm Erin."

"I know," she smiled. "Clint talks about you, Natasha, and you friend Jay a lot." Laura told Erin.

Erin bit back a sarcastic remark, not saying how Clint never mentioned Laura ever. But she knew why.

Erin looked to the little girl on Natasha's lap. "Hi little Barton," she smiled. "I'm Erin. What's your name?" Erin asked.

"Lila." She said in a shy voice.

"That's a beautiful name."

The girl blushed. Erin then looked to Laura. "She's the spitting image of you."

Laura chuckled. "She's my mini-me." She got up, fixing Erin a cup of coffee. "How are you feeling?" She asked. "Is your head hurting at all?"

No, he heart hurt. She looked out the window to see Jay, Clint, and Steve talking. It looked heated. "Not so much anymore." Erin said as Laura handed her a cup of coffee. "This will work wonders though, thank you."

Laura smiled.

"Jay filled me in on what happened." Natasha told Erin causing her to sigh. Of course Jay would tell Natasha. She was sure he told Clint too.

She clenched her jaw. "Yeah,"

Natasha knew Erin well enough to know she didn't want to talk about it. Laura on the other hand did not.

"So you were friends with this Bucky guy before you even knew Steve?" Laura asked. "And Bucky was Steve's best friend from the 40's? How is he even alive?" She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm prying."

Erin gave her a soft smile. "It's okay." She lied. "They froze James-," She shook her head, correcting herself. " _ **Bucky**_ until they needed him. Every couple of years they'd unfreeze him."

" _Hm,_ " Laura hummed. "That sounds terrible."

Erin and Natasha nodded their head. _Yes,_ Erin thought, _it is terrible._

"-Alright, team meeting everybody." Tony said as he walked in to the room. "Boss is here."

Erin looked over her shoulder and saw Fury. She sighed in relief. Erin got up from where she sat and ran to Fury, hugging him tightly. "Oh thank god." She whispered as he held her.

"I hear you had a rough day." Fury said in to her hair, kissing the top of her head.

Erin chuckled. "You don't know the half of it."

_x_

AN: Okay, so I changed Clint's storyline slightly. I didn't like the fact that he just randomly had a secret family in the movie. So I wanted to dive in to a different storyline that still revolved around him having a wife and kids. He just hadn't been keeping a secret for 10+ years. Hope I didn't piss any one off by doing that. Also, I want to make it clear that there was nothing romantic between Erin and Bucky when she knew him. She was only fifteen and they had a very platonic relationship. Simply friends.


	4. Chapter 4

They all gathered in the kitchen, Laura cooking while the kids ran around. Erin sat between Jay and Natasha. Her safety nets. She was vulnerable right now, with Steve not speaking to her and Clint not able to look her in the eyes – she needed the people who loved her the most surrounding her. Two of the four would do.

"Ultron took you folk out to play to buy himself time." Fury spoke up. "My contacts all say he's building something."

He took the vibranium, whatever Ultron was building would ultimately be indestructible.

"The amount of Vibranium he made off with – I don't think it's just one thing." Fury told them.

"What about Ultron himself?" Steve spoke up for the first causing Erin to look up at him. When they made eye contact Steve looked away. Erin licked her lips and looked to the table. Natasha grabbed her hand and gave it a squeeze.

"Ulton is easy to track, he's everywhere." Fury told them. "Guys multiplying faster than a catholic rabbit."

Jay chuckled, only to get glares from everyone in the room. "What?" He shrugged. "That was funny."

"-it still doesn't give us an angle on any of his plans though." Fury saved Jay.

"-Still going after launch codes?" Tony asked, playing darts a few feet away.

"Yes he is," Fury said, helping Laura cook. "But he's not making any headway.

"-I cracked the pentagon's firewall in high school on a dare." Tony shook his head

"I contacted our friends at the NEXUS about that."

"N EXUS?" Steve asked.

Bruce explained to Steve what NEXUS was. Erin and Jay knew someone who worked there. A friend of theirs from the Academy. _Mouse._

"-What'd they say?" Clint asked.

"He's fixated on the missiles, but the codes are constantly being changed."

"By whom?" Tony asked as Barton tossed a dart at the dart board he had been playing. Bulls eye. Of course. Tony looked at Clint with a glare only to receive a shrug in response.

"-Party is unknown."

"We have an ally?"

"Ultron has an enemy." Fury told Natasha. "That's not the same thing." He said. "Still I'd pay folding money to know who it is." Fury said, handing Erin a slice of carrot. " _Eat_." He told her. Erin rolled her eyes and took a bite of the carrot.

"We might need to visit Oz then." Tony said. "Find our unknown."

"Erin and I got a friend working over at NEXUS," Jay spoke up.

"Aren't you connected." Tony smirked.

" _Well,_ " Natasha breathed out. "This is a good time boss, but I was kinda hoping that when I saw you, you'd have more than that."

"I do." Fury looked at all of them. "I have you." He watched as they all looked at each other. "Back in the day I had eyes everywhere else. You kids had all the tech you could dream of, here we all are, back on earth with nothing but our wit and will to save the world." He told them. "Ultron said the Avengers are the only thing between him and his mission. And whether or not he admits it, his mission is global destruction." He looked around the room at all of them. "All this laid in a grave. So _stand._ Outwit the platinum bastard."

"-Steve doesn't like that kind of talk." Natasha smirked in Steve's direction.

And for the first time since Erin told him about Bucky, Steve smiled. "You know what, Romanoff," he looked at her. Natasha gave him an innocent grin.

"So what does he want?" Fury asked them all, getting them back on topic.

"To become better." Steve answered. "Better than us." He looked to Tony. "He keeps building bodies."

"Person bodies." Tony replied. "The human form is inefficient, biologically speaking, we're outmoded. But he keeps coming back to it."

"And when you two programmed him to protect the human race, you _amazingly_ failed." Natasha looked to Tony.

"They don't need to be protected, they need to evolve." Bruce said, looking at a painting Lila had given to Natasha. It was a butterfly. Everyone looked at Banner. "Ultron is going to evolve."

"How?" Fury asked.

"Has anyone been in contact with Helen Cho?" Bruce asked.

_x_

"I'll take Natasha, Jay, and Clint." Steve said, swinging his shield on his back.

"Um, and me." Erin spoke up, following after him and Tony.

"You should stay back." Steve finally spoke to her.

"-Yeah, that's not going to happen. I'm coming with you guys." She told him.

"Oh, do I sense a lovers' quarrel?" Tony asked, walking besides Steve and looking back at Erin.

"Shut up, Stark." They both said.

" _Okay, okay._ " Tony told them both, raising his hands up.

"I'm going with you guys. That's not up for debate." Erin told Steve causing his to raise a brow. "I'll be in the jet, _boss_." Erin said before walking out the front door where Jay was waiting for her. She had let her emotions get the best of her earlier. She wasn't going to let that happen again.

Steve watched as they walked out the door together, a pang of guilt in his chest.

" _O_ kay." Tony spoke up, breaking the silence. "Strictly recon. I'll hit the NEXUS and check in with Halstead and Lindsay's friend…uh, Mouse?" Tony shook his head. _What a ridiculous nickname._ "I'll join you as soon as I can."

"If Ultron is really building a body…"

"He'll be more powerful than any of us. Maybe all of us. An android designed by a robot."

"You know, I really miss the days where the weirdest thing science created was me." Steve said with a sigh.

Fury walked up to Tony and Steve, putting on his jacket. "I'll drop Banner off at the tower. You mind if I borrow Miss Hill?" He asked Tony.

"She's all yours…apparently," Tony mumbled under his breath causing Fury to give him a look. "What are you going to do?" Tony asked Fury.

"I don't know." Fury shrugged. "Something dramatic, I hope."

_x_

Erin needed to focus, not think about Steve, not think about what Clint had confessed to her, and not thinking of Bucky. She was once an agent of SHIELD and set a rule for herself to never get involved romantically with any other agents. Maybe she should have listened to the rule she set for herself. But no, as usual she had screwed everything up.

"You okay?" Jay asked, breaking her from her thoughts as he sat next to her on the jet. She nodded her head. He gave her a skeptical look. Steve had already jumped out of the jet, leaving them all to circle around him. _Two minutes, stay close,_ he had said

He hadn't said goodbye to Erin, promise her he'd be careful. He simply looked over at her and gave her a nod. She knew he didn't trust her any more. She didn't blame him. But right now she needed to focus.

They could all hear Steve talking to Dr. Cho over the radio and took in her words.

"Did you guys copy that?"

"We did." Erin said, standing up and walking over to the cockpit where Clint sat. Jay sat up and walked over to where his rifle was, ready to hit a target.

"I've got a private jet taking off across town. No manifest, which could be him." Natasha said.

Erin pointed at the screen, showing Clint what she saw. "There." She told him, spotting a truck from the lab.

"It's a truck from the Lab, right above you, Cap." Clint told Steve."On the loop by the bridge."

Erin watched the screen, now seeing it was Ultron drones. "It's them." She told Steve. "Three with the cradle, one in the cab."

"I can take out the driver." Jay said, rifle ready to fire.

"-Negative!" Steve said. "If the truck crashes, the gem could level the city." He explained. "we need to draw out Ultron."

Erin kept her calm as she watched Steve jump on top of the truck off the freeway ramp. She knew he could handle himself, and instead of worrying she focused on helping Steve.

"Steve, Ultron is in there, don't go through the back."

"Too late." Steve said, swinging from the door. They watched as the door flung open and Ultron shot at him.

"Dammit." Erin cursed.

But Steve was still hanging on. "Well he's definitely not happy I'm gonna try and keep him that way."

"-You're not a match for him, Cap."

"Thanks, Barton." Steve snorted.

Erin went left the cockpit, walking over to Natasha. "You ready, Nat?" She asked.

Natasha smirked. "Born ready."

They opened the belly of the plane, a look of grimace on Natasha's face. "You sure you want to do this?"

She shrugged. "It's either me or Halstead." Natasha told Erin. She looked back to Jay. "And we both know you can't handle this rig." She smirked.

"-I can handle it just fine." Jay countered back.

"We got a window," Clint spoke up as Natasha got on the bike. "4…3…Give em' hell." He said as the bike dropped from the jet with Natasha on it.

"We've got no shot." Erin said once she was back in the cockpit. "They're heading under the overpass."

" _Which way?"_ Nat asked.

"Hard right," Clint looked out his window, waiting for the turn. "Now." He instructed Natasha.

They were blind in the air, no eyes on Steve or Natasha. And it took a good few minutes for Steve and Natasha to get back in contact with them.

" _Clint! Can you draw out the guards_?" Natasha asked.

"Let's find out." Clint replied, firing at Ultron. They watched as Ultron looked up at the jet.

"Yup, he's pissed." Erin said under her breath as drones came flying at them.

"Shit!" Clint said as one of the drones tried to come at him through the window. "Lindsay, get in back." He ordered her. Erin didn't obey orders, instead called Halstead up to take out the drone. He shot at it from up top and the drone exploded, causing the jet to spin, free falling. When Clint steadied the jet, the remaining drones flew away, heading back towards Steve and Natasha.

Jay fired at them, but wasn't able to make the hit. "They're heading back towards you." Erin said over the radio.

"-Yeah, so whatever you're going to do, do it now." Clint added.

"-There!" Erin pointed at the bed of the truck that was now in the air.

"I have a clean shot." Jay said, readying the guns.

" _-Negative, I am still in the truck."_

"-What the hell are you do-"

" _Just be ready, I'm sending the package to you."_

"How do you want me to take it?" Clint asked.

"Uh, you might wish you hadn't asked that."

" _I lost him!"_ Steve shouted. _"He's headed your way."_

"Nat, we gotta go!" Clint told Natasha.

He lined up the jet towards the bed of the trunk, ready for Natasha to get the cradle in to the jet. It was risky, but Natasha believed they could do it. Clint had Erin and Jay move to the cockpit so they were out of the way.

Erin watched as the cradle came flying towards them and in to the truck, Natasha hanging off it. But then one of the drones grabbed Natasha, dragging her away.

"Nat!" Erin shouted, getting out of the cockpit.

"-Cap, you see Nat?" Clint asked.

"If you have the package, get it to Stark! Go!"

"-Steve, do you have eyes on Natasha?" Erin asked this time.

"Go!" He ordered.

Erin looked to Clint, shaking her head, telling him to find Natasha. But he listened to Steve. "What are you doing?" Erin asked in anger, unbuckling her seatbelt and headed towards where the parachutes were. If they weren't going to stop and go back for Natasha she'd jump out of the plane and do it herself.

"Grab her." Clint told Jay.

Jay grabbed Erin's arm, stopping her from grabbing one of the chutes. She glared up at him, trying to yank away from him, her arm tense.

"It's Natasha!" She seethed, reminding Jay who she was trying to rescue.

"You think I don't know that?" He yelled at her. "I want to find her just as much as anyone else. But we _can't_." He reminded her.

Erin yanked out of Jays grip but moved back to the cockpit instead of jumping out the plane.

 _We have to find her,_ she thought as they flew away.

_x_

"Anything on Nat?" Bruce asked as he walked up to Tony at Stark Tower. Erin, Clint and Jay all studied the cradle, trying to open it by force.

"Haven't heard. But she's alive, or Ultron'd be rubbing our faces in it." Tony told Bruce.

"This is sealed tight." Clint said, climbing on top of it.

Erin hadn't said much, staying quiet, trying not to think about where Natasha might be.

"We're going to need to access the program, break it down from within."

"-Any chance Natasha might leave you a message, outside the internet, old school spy stuff?" Tony asked Clint.

Erin looked to him, finally speaking up. "Some nets?" She asked.

Clint nodded his head. "There's some nets I can cast." He looked to Erin. "We'll find her." He told her in a sincere voice. It was the first time he really looked at her since the farm. She was starting to see the old Clint, her best friend.

She took in a breath, running her hands through her hair.

Erin and Jay followed Clint below where Tony and Bruce were, ready to send a message to Natasha. They couldn't use the forum they usually used to send messages. They were going to use some old school methods to find her.

They sat as Clint began.

Erin looked to Jay, a worried expression on his face. "We'll find her, Jay."

He gave her a quick nod, though he was having a hard time believing her. He then looked at her. "I'm starting to understand it." He told her.

Erin quirked her brow up, not understanding what he meant.

"-Your rule of not getting involved with your coworkers. Don't dip your pen in the company ink."

Erin saw Clint look at her for a split second before getting back to work.

Erin knew Natasha and Jay were sleeping together, but not everyone on the team knew it. Bruce, Tony, and Thor had no idea. So to have Jay bring it up when he knew they were near had surprised Erin.

She sighed. "Jay,"

"I know, you and Steve make it work." He mumbled.

"We _did_." Erin reminded him. "Not so much now." She could feel Clint's eyes on her but he didn't say a thing. "I don't think he'll ever get over the fact that I was an informant for HYDRA when I was fifteen." She confessed. "You know his history with HYDRA, how badly they hurt him."

'Yeah, well he's not the only one they hurt." Clint spoke up, taking Erin by surprise. She looked at him. "They gave you no choice but to stand with them. They were going to hurt your friend and though I didn't know you when you were fifteen – I know you now and I know you'd do anything to protect the people you love. Even jump out of a plane to try and find them. They took you and wiped your memory of them and got you hooked on dope so you'd think you had been too high to remember an entire year. If I could kill every HYDRA member in the world I would for what they did to you. I wouldn't be mad at you for making a choice to save your friend, _Steve's_ friend, sixteen years ago. You're not a super secret HYDRA agent, Erin. You're an Avenger." He then looked to Jay. "You both are."

Erin and Jay looked at him with appreciative smiles.

"Now shut up and let me concentrate." He told them causing them to chuckle.

_x_

Natasha had made contact, using Morse code to get in touch with Clint. It had taken hours, but they finally found Natasha.

They could all hear yelling coming from up the stairs, and from the accents, it would seem that Steve brought the Maximoff twins with him.

"What the hell are they doing here?" Erin asked in anger, walking up the steps, Jay following closely behind her. Steve, Tony, Bruce, and Wanda were all arguing, and suddenly Pietro had unhooked everything Bruce and Tony had been working with in a blink of an eye.

"Go on, you were saying?"

Gunshot.

The glass under Pietros feet broke and Pietro fell through the floor.

"What?" Erin heard Clint say from under them. "You didn't see that coming?"

Erin looked at one of Tony's computers; it read; _power loss critical_

"I'm re-routing the upload." He said only to have Steve throw his shield at him. Tony wore his ironman hand and blasted at Steve.

"Steve!" Erin shouted as he went flying backwards. She ran after him, helping him up.

Jay took out his gun, seeing Bruce grab Wanda from behind; _"Go ahead, piss me off."_ He seethed.

Erin helped up Steve who ran forward at Tony who was prepping his ironman suit. He jumped at him.

And then suddenly running past her, Thor jumped on the cradle, summoning lightening from his hammer.

"Wait!" Banner yelled.

But Thor summoned the lightening and it restored all the power. They all watched on for a moment before Thor was knocked off the cradle and a whoosh of power knocked them all over.

Jay crawled over to where Erin was, her arm cut up by all the glass on the floor. He helped her up and when they were standing, the creature was looking at them. "Jesus," Jay muttered under his breath, one arm slung around Erin's waist to keep her standing up.

The creature flew at Thor, only to get knocked away by his hammer, flying through the rooms. But before it could go through the window, it had stopped itself. They all watched as he looked out the window at the city, and then to his own reflection. He was silent, simply gazing at the window. Thor held out his arm, letting everyone know to stand back. He then turned back to them, hovering in the air.

Steve moved forward and stepped in front of Erin and Jay, blocking them from harm. Thor set down his hammer and walked up to where the thing was now standing.

"I'm sorry," the creature said. "That was…odd." He told them, "Thank you."

Erin watched as a cape materialized on the creature out of nowhere with wide eyes.

"Thor," Steve spoke up. "You helped create this?" He asked.

"I've had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life and at its center is that." He pointed to the gold glowing center of the things head.

"What, the gem?"

"It's the Mind Stone. It's one of the six Infinity Stones, the greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities."

"Then why would you bring it to,"

"-Because Stark is right."

They were all baffled that Thor would ever agree with Stark. "Did I die back there?" Erin asked Jay.

"Oh, it is definitely the end of times." Banner muttered to himself.

"The Avengers cannot defeat Ultron." Thor told them.

"Not alone." The thing standing next to Thor said.

"Why does your 'Vision' sound like JARVIS?" Steve asked.

"We reconfigured Jarvis' matrix to create something new." Tony told Steve, walking up to where the voice of JARVIS stood.

"I think I've had my fill of new."

"You think I'm a child of Ultron?"

"You're not?"

"I'm not Ultron. I'm not Jarvis. I am…I am."

"I looked in your head." Wanda walked up to it. "-And I saw annihilation."

"Look again."

"Yeah, her seal of approval means jack to me." Clint said as he walked over to where Jay and Erin stood.

"Their powers, the horrors in our head, Ultron himself – they all came from the Mind Stone, and they're nothing compared to what it can unleash." Thor told them all."But with it on our side…"

"Is it?" Steve asked. "Are you?" He looked at it now. "On our side?" He questioned.

"I don't think it's that simple."

"Yeah, well it better get real simple real soon." Clint said.

It's what Erin admired the most about Clint. His no bullshit attitude. Things were rarely gray for him. He knew what was wrong and what was right. And people talking in riddles to him – well, he didn't have time for that.

"-I am on the side of life. Ultron isn't. He will end it all."

"What's he waiting for?" Steve asked.

The creature looked to them all "You."

"Where?" Erin asked.

"Sokovia." Clint told everyone. "He's got Nat thee too."

"If we're wrong about you…" Bruce walked up to it. "If you're the monster Ultron made you to be,"

"-What will you do?" The thing asked. "I don't want to kill Ultron. He's unique. And he's in pain. But that pain will roll over the earth, so he must be destroyed." He told them. "Every form he's built, every trace of his presence on the 'net, we have to act now." He looked at them all. "And not one of us can do it without the others." He then looked at his hands. "Maybe I am a monster. I don't think I'd know if I were one. I'm not what you are. And not what you intended. So there may be no way to make you trust me. But we need to go." He said, grabbing Thors hammer, picking it up and handing it to Thor.

They were all silent.

None of them were worthy of picking up Thors hammer. But _he_ was.

He gave Thor the hammer before walking away.

They all kept their eyes focused on the hammer. Had that truly just happened.

"Right." Thor cleared his throat. He then walked towards Tony, patting him on the shoulder. "Well done."

After a moment of silence after Thor walked away, Steve spoke up. "Three minutes." He told everyone. "Get what you need."


	5. You Shouldn't Have Said That

Erin began to stretch, mentally preparing herself for battle. It was different from fighting humans (which was what she was most used to) they would be fighting Ultron and all his drones. She needed different weapons than just guns and knives like she'd usually use. There was no way she could break a robots neck with her thighs either, no matter how strong she was. She grabbed electric rods she could use against the drones, guns that took down anything electronic. Stark really was prepared for everything.

"Erin," Steve said softly from behind her. Erin frozen, going tense. He didn't like that. That's how she was when he first met her. He didn't want her to close herself to him. "Listen," he began to say.

But Erin cut him off by turning around. "I thought you said we only had three minutes to get ready. Shouldn't you be gearing up?" She asked.

"I have everything I need." He told her, motioning to his shield strapped to his back.

She was silent, simply staring at him.

"Look, about earlier."

Erin shook her head, scoffing a little. "I don't need to be thinking about this right now," she told him. "Not before a mission."

He hated himself in that moment for making her so cold towards him from his earlier actions.

"Let's just keep things professional, Rogers." She said, turning her back and grabbing as many more weapons as she could hold.

Steve was silent. He then moved forward and spun Erin around, pressing his lips to hers. He kissed her and without realizing it, Erin kissed him back, not even fighting it. She should have been. She should have pushed him away and told him to piss off. She wasn't this person. "-I don't want to keep things professional." Steve said once his lips parted from hers.

Erin slowly opened her eyes, looking up at Steve. "Why'd you do that?" She asked in a small voice.

"Because I love you." Steve said for the first time.

Erin swallowed hard, stepping away from him. "You shouldn't have said that." She whispered.

Steve didn't understand.

"-Erin," Stark said, coming in to the room. "I need your expertise for a moment." He interrupted them, clearing not sensing the moment between Erin and Steve. "Should I carry a gun while I'm ironman. If so, what gun?" he asked. "I was thinking machine gun."

Steve looked to Erin who gave him a quick shake of her head, letting him know she wasn't ready to have this kind of conversation. "We're leaving soon." Steve said, clearing his throat. "Be ready"

Tony waited until Steve was out of the room. " _Well,_ " he huffed. "That was awkward. Figured I'd save you from ruining your relationship." He said, tossing the gun back at Erin. She gave him a confused look. He _had_ sensed the moment between Erin and Steve, in fact he had been listening in on the conversation. "You were about to say something stupid probably along the lines of you not being good for Steve, blah blah blah, cliché. You know I hate clichés, Lindsay." He put his hand on Erin's shoulder, and surprisingly she didn't tense. "Talk about it with him after the mission. Work things out; be in love and happy. But for right now? Focus on the mission."

Erin nodded her head, surprised she was taking orders from Stark. "Did you really want a gun?" She asked him.

"I have rockets in my hands, Erin. No – I didn't want a gun." Tony chuckled before leaving the room.

Erin rolled her eyes and went back to getting her things together.

_x_

"Ultron knows we're coming." Steve started his speech. "Odds are we'll be riding in to heavy fire. And that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn't. Our priority is getting them out." He told them. "All they want is to live their lives in peace. And that's not going to happen today. But we can do our best to protect them. And we can get the job done." He looked to Thor and Tony. "We find out what Ultrons been building, we find Romanoff," He made eye contact with Jay for a split second, assuring him they'd find her. "And we clear the field. Keep the fight between us…" He said. "Ultron thinks we're monsters and we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right."

_x_

Erin was paired up with Clint with Jay off looking for Natasha with Bruce, Steve needed to know Erin would be with someone who would watch her back. He knew Clint would do that job. And despite what had happened between Erin and Steve earlier at Stark Tower, he was still in love with Erin, and wanted her protected. He knew she'd never back out of a fight, that she'd never just sit back and watch while the world fell apart around her – so he knew if he asked her to stay back in New York at the Tower, she'd more than likely laugh and shake her head. Maybe curse at him a little. So Steve didn't ask her to stay back.

"-That's right, keep going." Clint said as they showed the people which direction to go in.

Drones began flying over Clint and Erin's head, firing at them. "Go!" Erin yelled at the people, grabbing her gun and shooting at the drones, causing two to fall to the ground. She ran after them, jumping on their backs and electrocuting their neck with her power sticks. One of the drones grabbed at her leg only to have Erin kick it in the face, severing the head from the neck. Perhaps she was strong enough to break one of the drones' necks.

Voight taught her how to fight to keep safe on the streets. Natasha taught her how to fight to kill.

So with both of their help, Erin could take out almost any fighter.

"Erin!" Clint shouted.

Erin knew that tone of voice and didn't even have to turn around to know there was a drone behind her. She simply moved her head slightly and let Clint shoot it with an arrow. A loud thud and it was down. Erin grabbed her gun and began firing at the drones in the air, more falling to the ground from a fatal shot to their mechanics.

Clint motioned at the people behind them running in the wrong direction. "Go!" Erin yelled at him. "I got this."

Clint wasn't sure what to do. He knew the mission was to save the people of the town, but leaving Erin on her own without Jay watching her back?

"-I'll be fine, Barton. Go!" She yelled at him.

He nodded, running after the people. " _Wrong way!"_ She could hear him shouting. _"You're going the wrong way."_

Erin went back to shooting at the drones, getting under cover so she wouldn't get hurt, all the while firing at them.

_x_

"We got to get to the team." Natasha told Jay as they walked up the stairs. Bruce had gone in the tunnels to stay away from the civilians. Jay had filled her in on everything, Vision, the Maximoff twins working with them now. And as weary as that made her, Natasha was willing to give the Maximoff twins a chance. Jay handed her an ear piece, getting her connected with the team again. "I hear it's a party up there," she said over the radio. "Mind if I join?"

She heard a chuckle over the radio. _"Wouldn't be a party to stop a world invasion without Natasha Romanoff."_ Erin said over the radio.

Natasha smirked. "I feel honored, Lindsay. What's your location?"

Jay and Natasha stopped when the city began to rumble, the building collapsing around them. "Go!" Jay yelled pushing Natasha up the stairs before it would collapse from under them. They got out of the building just in time, running away from it as it collapsed. They saw people running around screaming, watching as their city turned to ruins.

"We need to get them out of here!" Natasha yelled over the noise.

"Can anyone hear me?" Jay said over the radio. "Rogers, what's your location?" He asked. Steve came on the line, muffled voice telling him he was on the bridge. "We got to get to him." Jay told Natasha.

"What about Erin?" She asked.

"Clint is with her, he won't let anything happen to her."

They both ran forward to where Steve had given them his location, watching as building fell all around them. " _What's happening?"_ Steve asked, unaware of why the city was collapsing.

" _Ultron is unleashing his army."_ Thor said over the radio.

The ground under them started began moving up, Sokovia lifting from the earth, now in the air.

Ultron was speaking through the drones around them now, and as many as Jay and Natasha took out, the louder his voice got. _"Do you see? The beauty of it. The inevitability. You rise, only to fall. You, Avengers, are my meteor, my swift and terrible sword and the earth will crack with the weight of your future. Purge me from your computers, turn my own flesh against me. it means nothing. When the dust settles, the only living thing living in this world will be metal."_

_x_

Erin fell down on the ground, unable to balance herself out. There was a gush of wind and then she was standing up straight. Pietro stood in front of her, pointing at more drones. "They're coming." He told her. Erin nodded, pulling out her guns and aiming them at the flying death machines. But Pietro picked her up off the ground and sped away.

When he stopped she jumped out of his arms, shoving him in the chest. "-Why'd you do that? I had them."

"Old man says you were in dangerous grounds. He wants you close by."

Erin groaned in irritation, of course Clint sent someone after her.

"A thank you would be nice." Pietro said with a smirk.

Erin cocked her brow up at him. "Thank you for taking me away from all the fun." She said sarcastically before walking away.

Pietro laughed. "You're welcome!" He shouted before running in the opposite direction.

Erin heard Steve over the radio. _"Stark, you worry about bringing the city back down safely. The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt 'em back. You get killed, walk it off."_

Erin saw across from her Clint was about to get hit. She shot her gun, firing at the drone causing it to fall apart. She ran forward only to be picked up by a drone. She was in the air, kicking trying to get out of its grip. She tucked forward knowing Clint saw it happen, giving him room to shoot at the drone. As soon as she ducked her head one of Clint's arrows came flying in to the drones head.

Erin fell to the ground only to be caught while still in the air, there was a blur than she was on the ground. She knew it was Pietro again. "-This time I'm thanking you!" She shouted after the blur as it ran in the opposite direction.

Over the radio she heard Jays voice. _"Erin, he's a teenager. Stop flirting with him."_

Erin shook her head. "Bite me, Halstead."

Erin walked over to where Clint was standing. "We're all clear here." He said, when Erin was close enough to him he pulled at her hand and put her by his side, swearing to never let her leave his sight again. "You okay?" He asked.

Erin nodded, looking over at Wanda. "Your brother saved my ass." She told Wanda.

" _You're welcome,_ " They heard him say before he swooped Wanda up in his arms and sped away. " _Keep up old man."_

Clint groaned, nearly getting knocked over by the power of his speed. He aimed his arrow at where Pietro was running off to. "Nobody would know." He said causing Erin to smile. "Nobody. The last time I saw him, when Ultron was sitting on him, uh, yeah, he'll be missed. That quick little bastard. I miss him already."

Erin was so happy in that moment, to see her friend back to how he used to be around her before he confessed that he had been in love with her. He was relaxed, back to his own self with his dumb sense of humor and terrible jokes. He smiled at her before telling Steve they were on the way.

_x_

Natasha and Jay had been fighting alongside Steve up in the air thanks to Banner hulking out and grabbing them as he jumped on board the floating piece of city. "The next waves going to hit any minute. What have you got, Stark?" He asked.

" _Well, nothing great. Maybe a way to blow up the city. That'll keep it from impacting the surface if you guys can get clear."_

"I asked for a solution, not an escape plan."

" _Impact radius is getting bigger every second. We're going to have to make a choice."_

Steve looked to Natasha. "Cap, these people are going nowhere. If Stark finds a way to blow up this rock…"

"-Not 'til everyone's safe." Steve disagreed.

"Everyone up here versus everyone down there? There's no math there." She then played a card she'd know would work. "…Erin's down there, Steve."

Steve swallowed hard. He shook his head, a little smile on his face. Jay was listening in on the conversation, walking up to them. He'd save Erin's life over his own, and he knew Steve would do the same thing.

"There's worse ways to go." Jay spoke up, he stood next to Natasha who looked at him with a smile.

"Where else are we gonna get a view like this?" She laced her fingers with Jays.

" _Glad you like the view, Romanoff."_ A voice said over the radio. Steve, Natasha and Jay all looked around. It was Fury's voice. _"It's about to get better."_ They all watched as a Helicarriers flew next to them in the sky.

"Hell yeah." Jay said with a smirk.

" _Nice, right? I pulled her out of mothballs with a couple of old friends. She's dusty, but she'll do."_

Steve smiled, shaking his head. "Fury, you son of a bitch."

" _Oooh! You kiss your mother with that mouth?"_

_x_

Erin had heard the whole conversation between Romanoff, Steve, and Jay. How Natasha had lied to get Steve to try and do that right thing. Natasha knew Erin was up in the air with them, and Erin knew it was the right thing to do to save the people who were still on ground. So she hadn't gone on the radio to tell Steve she was on the now island floating in the air. Clint had grabbed her hand, laced their fingers together and waited for death when they heard Fury over the radio.

Erin was so grateful for Nick Fury.

He had changed her life and saved her life multiple times. And despite everything that had happened with Voight, there wasn't a day he still had faith in her, not a day where he didn't trust her. He was the reason why she was holding on so strongly.

He knew about what she saw after Wanda got in her head, knew that she had worked for HYDRA with Voight to protect Bucky. And he didn't look at her like the enemy; he didn't lock her up on the spot. He simply hugged her and whispered; _there's not a bad bone in your body, Erin._

So she and Clint ran forward and began ushering the civilians on the lifeboats Fury had sent. Clint motioned over to where there were people still running in the opposite direction, telling Erin to go after them. She ran forward, leaving Clint alone to usher the people to safety while she tried to bring the strays in his direction.

When she turned around she saw Steve looking at her, shocked to see her standing there. He ran over to her and pulled her in to a hug. "What are you doing here? I thought you were off the rock?" He asked, his shield doing its job and shielding her body from the drones.

"You really think I'm that easy to get rid of?" She asked with a smirk. She stood on her tip toes and kissed Steve. He smiled and kissed her back before Erin pushed him away from her, he stumbled to the floor and Erin shot at the drones that were aiming at Steve's back, dismembering them.

She moved forward and helped Steve up. Once he was standing she spotted Jay and walked over to him. "You been on the island the whole time?" He asked. Erin nodded her head. "You know, we were going to blow it up to spare you."

"Well then you guys would have failed miserably." Erin smirked.

He chuckled.

"Alright, enough of the chit chat agents. We have a job to do." Tony said as he flew up to them.

"What's the drill?" Natasha asked.

"This is the drill." Tony pointed to the machine. "If Ultron gets a hand on the core, we lose."

Ultron flew up a few feet away from them, simply watching them.

"Is that the best you can do?!" Thor shouted.

He motioned behind him, a thousand more drones appeared.

Steve looked to Thor. "You had to ask."

"This is the best I can do." Ultron told them. "This is exactly what I wanted. All of you against all of me. How can you possibly hope to stop me?"

"Well." Tony said before looking at Steve. "Like the old man said; together."

Hulk roared, and his hand moved in front of Erin and Jay, stopping bullets from hitting them. Erin grabbed her gun, handing one to Jay. Hers seemed to work the best for destroying the drones. He'd need it to stay alive.

They all fought the drones. The Maximoff twins using their powers, Steve using his shield, Thor using his hammer – Hulk with his strength and anger, Tony using his Ironman suit. The Vision using his, well, _vision_ powers. And Natasha, Jay, Erin, and Clint using their good ol' human abilities they learned working for SHIELD. Shooting to kill, always making their hit. They all fought like the warriors they were. Never missing a hit, nearly killing themselves to take down drone after drone, sometimes even having to use their bare hands.

After, Thor, Tony, the Vision, and Hulk nearly destroyed Ultron and Hulk sent him flying through the sky, the drones began to try and fly away.

"They're retreating." Erin watched as they flew away.

"They'll try and leave the city."

"-We can't let 'em. Not even one. _Rhodey!"_ Tony called out.

" _I'm on it."_ Erin heard Rhodey over the radio.

"We got to move out. Even I can tell the air is getting thin." Steve told the remainder of the group." He looked at Erin, Jay, Natasha and Clint. "You guys get to the boats. I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you."

"What about the core?" Clint asked.

"I'll protect it." Wanda offered. She and Clint exchanged a look. "It's my job." She told him. He nodded. He turned and grabbed a hold of Erin's hand and pulled her forward, instructing her, Nat, and Jay to go.

_x_

They were on the boat now, but Erin had spotted a young boy hiding. Clint was trying to calm his mother down who cried and cried for her son in the native langue. Erin understood and ran off the boat to get him.

"Erin!" She heard Clint yell but she waved him off.

She grabbed the kid, and a gush of wind followed her. "What the hell are you doing?" Pietro asked, grabbing the kid out of Erin's arms.

"I can handle myself!" Erin yelled at Pietro. "Get him away from here."

"Will you be okay?" He asked as he looked to Erin.

She nodded. "Yes, I'm going to look for more people. Come back and find me."

Pietro nodded. Erin watched as he sped away and just as he was out of sight and when Erin turned to look for more people, she felt bullets pierce through her stomach and shoulder. Another feel of flesh ripping on her side. She fell to the ground, holding on to her stomach. Her hands were drenched in blood. She'd been hit. Erin looked at the sky to see Ultron flying one of their jets. Erin felt her eyes going heavy, a fight to keep them open.

Cold.

She was so cold.

She hadn't even heard Clint talking to her. He was hovering over her. Erin knew he was there; it was just hard to concentrate on his voice. She saw tears in his eyes. _This was bad_ , Erin thought, _I must be dying._ For the life of her she couldn't find the words to say.

"Erin, come on, keep your eyes open." She suddenly heard Clint say. "I need someone!" He called over the radio. "Lindsay's down! Lindsay's down!" She could hear voices in her head as well, all panicking. Erin began coughing up blood. "No, no, no." Clint said, shaking his head. "Fight this, Erin!"

She managed to move her hand up, touch Clint's face. Blood from her fingers smeared on his skin.

Erin wanted Steve.

But if she had to die in anyone else's arms, she was glad it was Barton.

"It's…it's okay." She stuttered out. There were tears in her eyes. But surprisingly not from the pain. It was because of the look on Clint's face. Erin didn't like seeing him look like that.

"No, we're going to get you out of here." Clint told her, his voice serious and hoarse. He moved her hand from his face to her chest wound. "Press down, Erin. You're not leaving." Clint looked up to see Ultron in the jet heading his way. He lifted Erin up in his arms, turning them so no more bullets would hit her. He'd be her shield.

As the guns went off, Clint pressed a kiss to Erin's forehead, her eyes now closed. And while expecting to get hit, he listened as bullets hit metal over and over again. A car was blocking them, and standing next to Clint with a blooded shirt stood Pietro. "…You didn't see that coming?" He asked before collapsing to the ground.

Thor appeared out of the sky, landing next to Pietros body. He looked from him to Clint who still held Erin in his arms. He moved forward and grabbed Erin out of Clint's arms before flying back in to the sky to get to the Helicarriers where doctors could work on Erin.

" _Barton,_ " he could hear Steve in his ear. _"Barton, answer me, dammit!"_

He sat down, looking at his hands covered in Erin's blood.

" _Lindsay is at the Helicarriers."_ Fury said in Clint's ear, knowing everyone was waiting for an answer.

There was silence.


	6. Avengers

Steve sat with his head in his hands, waiting for anyone to come out and talk to him. They all sat in the room, Natasha resting her head against Jays shoulder, Thor with his head hung low, Jay; eyes closed trying to concentrate on anything else. Tony sat slumped, annoyed with how long it was taking to get some answers. And Banner sitting patiently for a doctor to give them some news. Natasha watched as Clint paced around the room. _If I had only gotten to her sooner,_ he kept muttering to himself. _Why'd she run off?_ Why couldn't she have just followed damn orders?

Fury walked up to them causing them all to stand. Steve moved forward, standing in front of Fury. He looked at them, trying to keep an expressionless face. "She wants to see you all." He told them.

"Does that mean she's okay?" Jay asked.

Fury tried to stay calm, but his voice cracked when he spoke. "No." He barely managed to get out. "Her injuries are too excessive, and medically there's nothing we can do for her." "

Tony shook his head. "What are you talking about? You have some of the best doctors on this ship, dammit!" He yelled.

"The bullets Ultron hit her with were coated with something…we don't know what it is and without knowing what it was we can't work on her. The bleedings stopped, but whatever Ultron hit her with…it's killing her from the inside." Fury took in a breath. "She'd like to say goodbye to you guys."

"No," Clint spoke up, biting his upper lip. "No, I'm not going to do that." He shook his head, fighting the tears.

"Clint," Natasha's voice cracked.

"No, Nat!" Clint snapped at her. "I've watched enough people die today. I'm not going to sit back and watch another person die- not when it's…not when it's her." He walked away, leaving the Avengers watching him as he left.

"Times precious…" Fury said. "I'd go see her now." He told the rest of them. They followed after Fury down the hall where Erin was being worked on.

They entered the room she was in, IV's hooked up to her, fluids trying to slow down the process of death. She gave them a weak smile as they entered. Natasha went to Erin's side, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. "You gotta fight this, Erin."

She smiled weakly, not able to say much, she simply shrugged, which pained her to do. Her whole body hurt, she was shot with excruciating pain whenever she made a movement.

Natasha could see she was in pain, her eyes filling with tears. "You can't leave." She told her, trying to keep her voice strong. "Not yet. Not until you're old and graying and we're sitting with Clint on his porch talking about the days when we were spies." She watched as Erin smiled.

Jay put his hand on Natasha's shoulder. He was holding back his tears, but his eyes were glassy. He watched as Erin smiled up at him. He knew what she was thinking. _It's okay._ But it wasn't. It was his job to watch Erin's back at all times when they were on a mission. Where the hell was he? Why wasn't he with her? How come he couldn't save her? "I'm sorry." He whispered.

Erin shook her head, wincing at the pain. _No, it's not your fault._ She thought. _It's mine._ But she would have made the same choice to save that kid even though it put her in the path of Ultron. She was just glad the bullets had hit her instead of any of the other Avengers. Yes, this loss would hurt them, but it wouldn't destroy them.

Thor moved forward, pressing his hand to her cheek gently. He didn't say anything, he just moved forward and kissed her forehead. She knew he had lost men in battle before. She would just be one of the fallen friends, he'd move forward and keep helping protect the world he loved so much. She wanted to tell him to tell Jane goodbye, give Darcy one last hug from her. But she was saving her voice.

Bruce walked to her, grabbing her hand and squeezing it. She fought the grimace from the pain and simply gave him a sweet smile, nodding her head in their silent conversation.

Tony was next, standing at her side. "This isn't fair." He said, shaking his head as he looked at his hands. "This shouldn't have happened – I created Ultron," Erin stopped him from saying anything else by grabbing his hand, using all the strength she had to squeeze it. "If I hadn't created Ultron…this wouldn't have happened to you." He told her. "You don't deserve this and I'm sorry." He said before walking away.

Natasha stood, looking at all of them, giving them a look to let them know that Steve and Erin should have some alone time. Natasha leaned forward and kissed Erin on the cheek, a tear falling on her skin. "I love you." She whispered in her ear.

Erin knew Natasha, Jay, Steve, and Clint would take her death the hardest. That's why she wasn't angry when she saw Clint wasn't in the room, that he hadn't come to say goodbye. She didn't want to cause him pain, but she knew her death would. So if he didn't want to say goodbye she wouldn't hold it against him.

Steve stood in front of her bed before he pulled up a chair and sat next to her, grabbing her hand. "I'll stay with you." He told her. She smiled. Erin knew what he meant. He'd stay with her until she finally died.

Erin opened her mouth, her lips quivering. "…I…love…you ...too." She managed to say.

Steve smiled, tears in his eyes. "I really do have bad timing, don't I?" He forced a chuckle though his voice broke. He grabbed her hand, bringing it to his lips and kissed her knuckles. Erin closed her eyes, ignoring the pain and focused on the feel of Steve's lips on her skin one last time. She wanted to say more, tell him she loved him a thousand times, but her throat was swelling. Erin knew that any minute now her breathing would go out and her heart would stop. Her lower lip trembled; she pulled her hand away from Steve's lips to his face, caressing it.

He looked down at her with red tear stained eyes. "Please don't leave me." He finally said. Erin gave him a sad smile, her fingers touching his lips. He knew what she wanted and leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers.

"This…" A voice said behind them causing Steve to pull away from her. Erin wanted to grab him and pull him back to her; the last thing she wanted to remember before she died was Steve's lips. But Vision stood in the doorway. "Is very touching." He said. Vision looked to Erin and Steve. "But I do believe I can help." He told them.

Steve stood up and looked at Vision. "Can you help save her?"

"I believe I can."

"Do it." Steve said immediately .

Vision looked to Erin, walking over to her. "It will hurt, Agent Lindsay." He told her. "And I need your permission." He told her.

Erin didn't want to die; she had been ready when there was no other option. But she wanted to live. To spend the rest of her life with the ones she loved. She opened her mouth to speak. "Yes." She managed to get out.

Vision nodded. An old ancient jar of water materialized in Visions hand and he began to pour it on Erin's forehead. Whatever he was pouring on her was powerful; it seeped through her skin and dripped on every one of her nerves. She began screaming. Steve moved forward but Vision stopped him. "It's part of the process." He explained. Erin continued to scream and cry as the water burned her blood.

Natasha, Thor, Jay, Tony, and Bruce all came running in when they heard her screaming. Watching as her skin glowed.

"What is he doing to her?" Jay yelled.

Thor stepped forward, recognizing what Vision was doing. It was old Asgardian lore; he hadn't even believed it as a child. But somehow Vision had found the water that gave you powers and made you strong. "He's healing her." Thor told them, keeping them from stopping Vision.

Fury ran in to the room with agents following after him, guns all aimed at Vision. But the Avengers stopped them, saying Erin was healing.

Erin let out one last blood curdling scream that was so powerful it knocked everyone off their feet, sending them flying in to the walls. Erin gasped and shot up, her hands moving to her neck. She looked around the room to see all her friends on the ground and looked to see Vision still standing. Erin looked at him for answers.

"You have a power inside of you." He told her. "The water brought it out to life." Vision explained. "I've seen it in my head. You, Erin Lindsay, will become a great warrior."

Steve was the first to run to her bedside, his hands finding her face and looking in to her eyes, trying to see if she was damaged or hurt in anyway.

"I'm okay," She told him, her hand reaching to his face, desperate to feel his skin. Steve moved forward and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her over and over again.

"Uh, this is awkward." Tony said as he stood up, looking on as Steve kissed Erin. "I feel like I'm watching my grandpa kissing his hot younger girlfriend."

Erin smiled against Steve's lips but pulled away upon hearing Tony's comment. Natasha moved forward and grabbed at Erin, nearly getting on the bed with her as she hugged her. Jay moved forward and hugged her too.

"Someone should probably let Barton know she's healed." Banner said, he walked forward to Lindsay and smiled down at her. "I much prefer you alive over dead." He told her causing Erin to chuckle.

"How are you feeling, Erin?" Thor asked her, studying her face.

"I feel fine, Thor, honest." She told him. "Which is miraculous since I was as good as dead a few minutes ago."

"How about we never talk about that again?" Natasha suggested, not wanting to think of the Erin who had been in that bed moments earlier dying. It had opened Natasha's eyes to how much she loved Erin and couldn't fathom the idea of losing her. She felt herself turning off her emotions the moment they left the room to give Steve alone time with Erin, felt her retreating back to the assassin she had been, not the Avenger she was. Trying to shut down all her emotions so she wouldn't feel the pain and loss.

"Ever." Jay agreed.

Erin smiled.

_x_

 **THREE MONTHS LATER**

Erin walked down the long hallway leading her to the dark room. Maria walked behind her, another agent on her left. Erin was doing something she never thought she'd do. She was going to see Voight. "You sure about this?" Maria asked, standing by the door. Erin gave her a sharp nod, letting her know she'd be fine.

"He could have information on Bucky." She reminded Maria, who fought hard against Erin going to see Voight. She knew what a strong hold Voight had on Lindsay, she didn't want him getting in her head. Especially now while she was still learning to deal with her new powers.

They appeared three days after she had nearly died. She was in Brooklyn with Steve, moving in to their new apartment when she noticed something changing in her. Natasha had been helping them move and brought up Clint, asking Erin if she had heard from. _No,_ he hadn't made contact with her yet. And she wasn't mad about that, he needed time – she understood that. But then Natasha mentioned what Clint had confessed to her at the farm.

" _It's not a big deal."_ Erin said, waving it off.

" _It was a pretty big deal for him."_

Had Natasha known about Clint's feeling this whole time?

" _He's avoiding you because he's embarrassed. Or he's afraid to be around you for the sake of his marriage. Feelings like those don't just disappear overnight."_

Erin had gotten angry, spinning around, her hand up in the air to tell Natasha to stop and the assassin went flying in to the nearest wall. She had run to Natasha, apologizing numerously for what she had done, that she didn't have control over it. Natasha had called Thor, asking him if this was normal and he had explained that the water awakens a power in you – different for everyone comes across the water.

She spent a few weeks with Wanda, who could move things with her mind as well. She helped Erin get a control on it. Erin didn't want to go to Wanda for help; she figured the young girl would laugh at her. Tell her to piss off.

She was the reason Pietro was dead.

Pietro had died saving Erin and Clint from getting hit with more lethal bullets, moving them behind a car and getting shot multiple times in the process. Dying almost instantly.

But Wanda had been nothing but kind to her, teaching Erin how to control her emotions, which seemed to cause her power to flare up if she got too frustrated.

And yet here she stood, ready for a confrontation that would likely anger her. But Erin had assured Fury and Maria that she was ready. Erin nodded at Maria, telling her she was ready. The lights in the room turned on and Voight immediately looked up, blinking rapidly.

"…Er-Erin?" He croaked out. His voice was always raspy, but he sounded worse than he had before. She kept her face straight, trying not to let any emotion grab hold of her. "-I thought, I thought you'd never come." He smiled.

He got off his bed and walked up to her. Erin took a step back.

Voight looked hurt.

"You don't need to be scared of me, Erin."

She was silent.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions." He cleared his throat.

Erin swallowed hard before speaking. "Alright," Erin spoke up. The light in Voights eyes lit up hearing the sound of her voice. "How about we start with how you wiped my memory when I was fifteen." And just like that his face fell. "I remember, Hank, I remember James too."

Voight shook his head. "You weren't supposed to remember any of that. They swore you would never remember."

"Yeah, well I remember a lot of things now, Voight." She spat out. "I remember getting stuck with syringes filled with dope so it seemed like I was just blacked out all year from drugs."

"Erin,"

"-No." She shook her head. "You let them do that to me. You said all you did was to protect me. How could you let them do that to me?" Voight moved forward to grab her hand but Erin yanked away. "Don't think you have the right to touch me." She seethed.

 _Erin,_ she could hear in her ear. Steve was listening in with Maria, coaching her through her anger. _You need to control your emotions._ He reminded her.

Erin took in a deep breath, trying to calm herself. "Tell me everything you know about James Barnes." She ordered.

"I can only tell you that you got under his skin and he lost focus on the mission. They were going to punish him for that – kill you. I convinced them not to. I joined HYDRA to protect you – I told them you'd be my eyes on the inside, but I never used you, I never-"

"Don't talk to me about your guilt." Erin said through gritted teeth. "I asked about James."

"I had to do what I did to protect you – I had no choice. Erin, I never wanted to betray your trust."

"-Enough!" Erin yelled, her hand rising involuntary and Voight went flying backwards.

He stumbled in to the wall, eyes wide. His guilty eyes turned to fury. "-What did they do to you?" He asked.

Maria and Steve entered the room, grabbing a hold of Erin's arm and taking her away from Voight. Erin went willingly, not wanting to hear him make excuses for the mistakes he made.

She came to talk about Bucky. Voight wasn't giving her the information they needed, so she'd leave.

"Erin!" Voight yelled. He then charged at Maria and the agents in the room. "What did you do to her?!" He screamed. "What did you do?!"

Steve ushered Erin out of the room and once they were outside, Erin grabbed a hold of him and buried her face in his chest, her arms circling around him. He held her as she shook from crying.

"It's okay, Erin." He assured her. "It's okay."

But it wasn't. She shouldn't have lost her cool with Voight. They needed information about Bucky that only a HYDRA member could give them. And she had failed.

Steve rubbed her back, his arms wrapping around her.

"I'm sorry." Erin whispered against the fabric of his shirt.

"You don't have anything to apologize for." Steve said. "He's the monster."

Erin closed her eyes and relished in being in Steve's arms. She'd never take that for granted anymore. Steve pressed a kiss to her head. "I love you." She whispered.

Steve smiled, still holding on to her. "I love you, too."

_x_

Clint sat on the couch, his newborn son in his arms. He gazed down at the child. How was it possible he had helped create something so beautiful. _Nathaniel Pietro Barton._

Clint gave Nathaniel the middle name of the man who saved him, who got him to his very moment, holding his son in his arms. "Hey buddy," Clint said, his finger moving so his son could grab a hold of it. Clint chuckled at the firm grip Nathaniel had. "Strong, like your father." He beamed.

"-More like his mother." Laura said from the doorway. She had been watching Clint with their son, feeling nothing but love and joy. "He's got his daddies eyes though." She said, walking over to where Clint sat on the couch.

"That's what Nat said." Clint smiled. Laura looked at Clint for a moment, a look of worry in her eyes. "What's up?" He asked.

She sighed. "I know with what happened in Sokovia…you don't like talking about what happened with Erin." Laura watched as Clint tensed. "But it's been three months and she's fine."

Clint shook his head. _No_ , she wasn't fine. Natasha had told him about what happened, about Erin's powers. The water Vision had given her had awakened something in Erin, gave her powers. He knew she was probably scared, and he knew she probably needed him. But he needed to be with his family.

He'd always love Erin. But he was married to Laura now. They had a child together, he had adopted her kids. And as much as he wanted to be there with Erin, walk with her through this journey – he knew he couldn't.

Laura didn't know about Erin's powers, it was all classified. Fury didn't want people knowing, especially HYDRA, in case they came to collect her. Clint knew Erin was safe with Steve, that he wouldn't let anything happen to her – but it was better than only a few people knew about her powers. And even though Laura was Clint's wife now, he knew he couldn't tell her.

"You should call her." Laura told him. "She's your best friend."

Clint didn't say anything.

Laura huffed. "Well at least send her a picture of our son." She suggested. "I'm sure Erin would love to see him."

Clint closed his eyes, not wanting to talk about it with his wife. She knew that Clint had had feelings for Erin when she first met him; she didn't know the extent to that just that Clint was trying to get over her. But she knew how hard it was for someone to stop loving a person.

"Clint," she said softly. "You know she misses you." Laura spoke softly. "And I know you miss her too."

He nodded his head, pulling out his phone, "Alright, Nathaniel," Clint said, taking a video of his son so he could send it to Erin. "Nathaniel, give us a smile for your Auntie Erin." He said. Nathaniel gave her a big smile, all gums and drool, and laughed.

_x_

Erin checked her phone, when she saw it was a message from Clint she had walked off by herself to check it. She hadn't heard from him in months.

 _Nathaniel, give us a smile for your auntie Erin,_ she heard Clint's voice behind the camera, a video of his son. She grinned. Erin knew this was big for Clint to send her this video after everything that had happened. A part of her felt like she may never see or hear from Clint again. She made a deal with Natasha that if she didn't hear from Clint within the next month she'd show up at his house demanding explanations.

But he had reached out to her. And that made Erin the happiest she had been in a long time. She quickly sent Clint a message; _he's got his father's eyes. Lucky kid._

She watched as Jay walked up to her and put her phone away.

"How'd it go?" Jay asked, knowing Erin went to see Voight earlier. She shook her head, letting him know it didn't go well. He gave her a reassuring smile. "We'll find Bucky without him." He tried to make her feel better.

They walked down the hall of the newest Avengers Facility that Tony had set up. Sam walked up to them. "You ready for this?" He asked.

"Well I still don't have control of not flinging someone across the room with a flick of my wrist when I get angry – but I'm ready."

"Use it, girl." Sam laughed. "All I do is fly – I'd kill for some super powers. I'd trade you my wings for your powers any day"

Erin smiled. She knew what Sam was doing, trying to make her feel less like a freak, less like a threat.

Wanda walked up to them; standing by her side was Rhodey and Vision.

They all walked in to the room where Steve stood next to Natasha. He smiled at Erin before regaining his serious exterior.

He stepped forward, and with a proud look in his eyes he yelled, "Avengers!"

_x_

AN: Well that was it guys; Age of Ultron/CPD collides once again. Hope you all enjoyed it! I had fun writing it.


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